Plenary focus: Strasbourg plenary session 2-5 July 2012

Eurozone crisis: not just roadmaps but legislation needed by September

From left to right: Ms. Helle THORNING-SCHMIDT, Danish Prime Minister; Mr Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the European Council; Mr Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament; Mr Uwe CORSEPIUS, Secretary-General of the Council. ©The Council of the European Union

The Parliament welcomed the results of the June European Council but urged the Commission to table legislation by September ©The Council of the European Union

The latest European Council conclusions go in the right direction in tackling the Eurozone crisis but the situation is so urgent that the Commission must table legislation by September in order to implement the four concepts in the Van Rompuy policy paper rapidly, says the EP in a resolution passed on Wednesday setting out its formal response to last week's summit.

The resolution, adopted by a large majority (501 votes to 132, with 38 abstentions), welcomes the steps taken to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereign debt and the commitment to growth-friendly fiscal consolidation. It also hails the summit conclusions as "an important step on the road to a fully fledged banking union".

The Van Rompuy paper is a "good starting point", says Parliament, but more work is needed, and this must involve not only the EU institutions and national parliaments but also the social partners and civil society (para 9).

MEPs welcome the commitment to making the EU budget a tool for growth but stress that agreement on the multi annual budget plan can only be reached if the EU's own resources system is reformed.

Procedure: non-legislative resolution