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Reinfeldt: markets 'don't want' EU treaty changes

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Reinfeldt: markets 'don't want' EU treaty changes

European Union treaty changes are not the euro debt crisis solution the markets want, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said on Thursday ahead of a crucial EU summit in Brussels.

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"Judicial changes to the treaty that might take longer time might be needed, but I don't think that's the solution markets following us are actually looking for," Reinfeldt said in the French port of Marseille.

Reinfeldt's comments refer to a plan put forward on Monday by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel calling for a new EU treaty that includes tougher budgetary rules to address the eurozone debt crisis.

European powerhouses France and Germany are pushing for EU treaty changes to be agreed at the Brussels summit to ensure tighter fiscal discipline for debt-hit eurozone nations in a bid to reassure nervous markets.

"The markets are looking into if we get enough firepower in the firewall and if we do enough when it comes to increase fiscal discipline and also reforms in the most troubled countries," Reinfeldt said.

"There are the solutions," he said on the sidelines of a meeting of conservative EU leaders in Marseille.

Eurozone nations have been holding intensive debt crisis talks to find ways to bolster their financial firewall ahead of the summit, which begins on Thursday evening.

Possibilities include allowing two rescue funds to exist temporarily side-by-side instead of just the single bailout fund currently in existence -- the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Reinfeldt said that Sweden, which is not part of the eurozone, was "open to discuss how we can construct measures to get better fiscal disciplines" but preferred an agreement by all 27 EU members than just for the eurozone's 17.

"We respect the eurozone who wants their own meeting, but we want to stick to the 27 concept," he said.

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