Political groups in the European Parliament are widely sceptical of a Franco-German push for a treaty change, arguing it will do little to solve the eurozone crisis in the near term. EurActiv has compiled the views of the Assembly's main political groups.

...Martin Schultz, president of the the Socialists and Democrats Group (S&D):

"I am against a treaty change and this is not only the Social Democrats saying it - all groups in the European Parliament, I repeat, all groups in the European Parliament will send [Parliament President Jerzy] Buzek tomorrow to the council's meeting with the message that we are against a treaty change, because it is not necessary.

..."I think what we need are decisions about the role of the European Central Bank. Is the ECB for some member states in the eurozone a kind of lender of last resort? In my eyes, yes, but we should confirm it. We should secondly decide how far-reaching the measures taken by the ECB could be.

..."To propose budgetary discipline exclusively, by ideological reasons, without the necessary measures on the side - especially investment in growth - makes no sense and that is why what is on the table is unbalanced. If the eurozone collapsed it would be a disaster. I think that whatever we do, we must have a goal: to keep Europe united."

BRUSSELS - With Denmark taking over the EU presidency in January PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt has said she will fight to make sure that fellow non-eurozone countries are involved in all discussions concerning the internal market, as the eurozone crisis drives a potentially major wedge between those in and outside the single currency.

"I have no problems understanding that the 17 need to discuss certain things themselves. I think that is natural. But when we are discussing things that concern the internal market, we should all 27 be around the table," she told EUobserver ahead of a key summit of EU leaders.

...The Danish premier refused to criticise Berlin's leadership in the crisis, despite the fact that Germany's approach has raised hackles in some quarters both on substance and style.

"Anyone who criticises Chancellor Merkel for taking too much responsibility would have to see the opposite situation where Germany did not take that kind of responsibility," she said.

BRUSSELS - Hungary has been "completely misunderstood" on its position on the new EU treaty amid reports it will boycott the agreement together with the UK, the country's EU affairs minister said on Friday (9 December).

Preliminary conclusions drafted in the early hours of Friday suggested that Hungary and Britain were the only countries rejecting the agreement on strengthening fiscal rules via a new treaty. But Budapest has said it simply wants to first consult its parliament - just as Bulgaria, the Czech republic, Denmark and Sweden - in a line to be enshrined in the final summit conclusions.

Hungarian media reports that the "being misunderstood" line is only for the public, and PM Viktor Orbán actually changed his position from Thursday to Friday. The interesting part is that the Orbán government put a debt brake into Hungary's new constitution, too, but now wants to delay it taking effect until 2016...

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Britain's future? Proud isolation: like the Cayman Islands, but without the weather

Britain is not leaving the European Union, just yet. But the EU may already have abandoned Britain. The fog of the Battle of Brussels, 8-9 December 2011, is still clearing. But psychologically and politically a Rubicon has been crossed, both in Brussels and in London.

The Prime Minister has played a poor hand very badly. He has put Britain into a position of deep isolation within the EU which even Mrs Thatcher in her "money-back" days skilfully avoided. He has given the circling sharks of the Eurosceptic backbenchers and press a taste of blood which could rapidly turn into a feeding frenzy.

The European Union on Thursday night dropped the hypocrisy. No longer is harmony the overriding goal. That, though, means that Great Britain may no longer have a place at the table. London must decide whether it wants to remain part of Europe or not.

Europe on Friday awoke to a changed world. The European idea as we know it is in the process of dissolving into thin air. The monumental postwar project of a peacefully unified continent where all member states hold hands in friendship collapsed overnight.

OAS_RICH('Middle2'); The European Union has divided itself in the face of crisis. On the one side is the common currency union, which is following the Franco-German desire to grow together as a way to finally get the euro crisis under control.

And more on the topic from the SPIEGEL:

'Cameron Is a Coward': European Politicians Slam British EU Veto - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Following David Cameron's veto of EU treaty reform, there is plenty of frustration in Europe over Britain's stubborn attitude in the battle against the debt crisis. Prominent members of the European Parliament have strongly criticized the British prime minister and sent him a clear message: Europe doesn't need you.

Britain vs. the EU 26: The Man Who Said No to Europe - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

British Prime Minister David Cameron has completely isolated his country on the European stage -- and many in his country applaud him for it. But he will soon have to prove that London still has clout in the EU, and that his no to fiscal union wasn't just a bone thrown to euroskeptic conservatives.

Without doubt, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have taken a big step nearer their goal of a fiscal union. But at what price? Britain remains outside it. The salvation or the disintegration of the Union is now approaching.

Was this the night the euro was saved? Or will those ten hours go down in history as the meeting that broke the EU? In any event, the heads of government of the 27 EU countries could hardly have set the stage for the ongoing finale of Operation Save the Euro any more dramatically.

Before the actual meeting on Thursday evening, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron had already got together in a threesome: the Briton, that much was certain, would play in a major role in the coming hours. What followed was a hard, sometimes very hard struggle before the French President, shortly after five in the morning, came out to announce the outcome of the all-night negotiations.

There have been mixed reactions from Dutch political parties to the euro accord reached at the European Union summit in Brussels.

The conservative VVD and Christian Democrats, members of the minority governing coalition, have come out broadly in favour of the deal, while the major opposition parties have criticised it as being weak. Opposition Labour MP Ronald Plasterk:

"Labour's bitterly disappointed. It looks like the government leaders have been unable to rise to the challenge. In fact, you could say the European Union is now split. There are partial agreements on budget discipline and the emergency fund and absolutely no agreements on reining in the financial sector."

Stop crowing about Cameron - this is just the latest attack on European democracy.

Stop your crowing about Cameron leaving Britain marginalised, lefties. The proposed EU treaty is perhaps the biggest catastrophe to befall the European left since World War II.

Sounds like semi-deranged hyperbole? Consider this. As Paul Mason has written, "by enshrining in national and international law the need for balanced budgets and near-zero structural deficits, the eurozone has outlawed expansionary fiscal policy."

Read that last bit carefully. Left-wing governments of all hues will be effectively banned by this treaty. If the French or German left return to power in the near future (and they are in a good position to do so), it will be illegal for them to respond to the global economic catastrophe with anything but austerity. An economic stimulus is forbidden -- because the treaty has buried Keynesianism.

Britain has become sub-marginal following the EU Summit of 9 December, which reshaped the geo-economic direction of the European continent with the acceleration of fiscal union, a process that will include reinforced regulation and supervision at a European level.

The attempts by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the City of London to block financial supervision and the strengthening of the Eurozone have failed dramatically and have left the United Kingdom isolated and trailing behind developments. The new situation brings to a close the 30 years of undisputed British domination of Europe's finances, which intensified in the past decade and blocked the European Union from advancing towards a European system for banking supervision, which if it had been introduced a decade ago would have largely prevented the present Eurozone crisis.

Denmark has not yet decided whether it will join the new agreement among the 17 Eurozone members according to Prime Minster Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

"Obviously we will have to discuss the issue with Parliament as to whether we join or not. What we have said is that we will be coming to the meeting today, which we will do. But obviously, Denmark has a euro opt-out. We cannot become part of anything until we have discussed the issue with Parliament," Ritzau reports Thorning-Schmidt as saying.