MEPs on Wednesday criticised the "summitry" with which EU leaders are attempting to build economic and monetary union, saying that it was leading nowhere and was far removed from the spirit and ambition which won the EU the Nobel Peace Prize.
The comments came in a debate with Commission President Barroso and Cyprus' Deputy Minister for European Affairs Mavroyiannis ahead of the European Council which starts tomorrow.
Group leaders from the EPP, S&D, Liberals, Greens and the United Left denounced the intergovernmental system, which they said had failed and was unable to turn grand rhetoric into action.
They were especially sceptical about the coming summit, saying that the expectations ofra good result were particularly low. TheECR and EFD leaders said that what was needed was less Europe, not more.
The main topics discussed were the roadmap for economic and monetary union, banking supervision, the pooling of sovereign debt, progress on the economic governance two pack, and the EU budget.
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