Euro zone deal should not be allowed to fragment EU, UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg believes
ANY FISCAL compact agreed among euro zone countries should also become part of the EU treaties within a few years, UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has said.
Speaking in an interview with The Irish Times, the Liberal Democrat leader said he envisages this taking place "in a few years' time" in order to prevent what he called "fragmentation" of the EU.
He said he and Taoiseach Enda Kenny had discussed the need for their two governments to promote a vision of greater competitiveness and growth within the EU at a meeting at Government Buildings earlier.
Commenting on the moves towards a fiscal compact in the euro zone, he stressed the need to ensure continuing European unity.
“It’s not an EU treaty; it is not being negotiated by the EU; it is not being negotiated by all 27 countries.
“Clearly, there is a prospect that it should be folded in to the EU treaties over time, which I think is a desirable medium-term objective.
“Why? Because I don’t think it’s very good for the EU as a whole to be fragmented, with lots of different legal or quasi-legal texts and having clubs within clubs within clubs.”
He added: “That is a recipe for long-term fragmentation, whereas what I would like to see is a European Union which is united, notwithstanding the fact of course you have a diverse range of member states within it.
“But unity is incredibly important, I think, for the EU at the moment, given that there are such powerful forces which otherwise might pull the EU apart, and I don’t want to see that happen.”
Explaining what he had in mind by “folding in” the agreement to the existing EU treaties, he said: “Even though the United Kingdom is not part of the euro, the euro itself is legally rooted within an EU treaty text and in principle there is no reason why this additional agreement which is all about the euro zone should not be slipped in to the provisions on the euro zone which already exist in the EU treaties.”
Clegg added that it was not for him to say when this would take place. “I think there’s no reason why, in a few years’ time, we shouldn’t seek to see these things be folded in to each other.
“A very important point to remember from Britain’s perspective is that doing that won’t in any way materially affect Britain’s rights and responsibilities. It won’t change Britain’s status within the European Union one little jot.
“What we would need to secure, of course, is that the basic rights of the United Kingdom and indeed all other countries that are not part of the euro zone, particularly within the single market, should be properly safeguarded, because what you don’t want, as I say, is fragmentation in a way which then disrupts the single market, whether it is in financial services or in other areas.”
On the issue of Scottish independence and the current controversy over a referendum, the deputy prime minister said: “I am a big advocate of a strong Scotland in a strong United Kingdom.
“I think the choice is between yanking Scotland out of the UK, with all the uncertainty and costs and disruption that will cause, and a future in which Scotland becomes ever stronger within a strong UK, with more devolved powers continuing to flow to Scotland.”
He said Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, who also attended the British-Irish Council, needed to “spell out to people” what independence actually meant.
“What does it mean for the currency? Is Scotland going to have its own currency? What is it going to be called? What kind of share of the UK’s debts would it take on? How would it bail out banks that get in trouble in the future? What does it mean for the defence bases? What does it mean for investment? What does it mean for jobs?”
Clegg added: “At the end of the day I know that quite often Alex gives the impression this is all about Alex Salmond. It’s not actually, it’s about the people of Scotland.”
