UPDATE: Crucial EU summit underway

Damion Mitchell, Editor - Radio & Online

BRUSSELS, Belgium:
European leaders have started critical talks in Brussels, Belgium on a series of measures to prevent a collapse of the Euro.

A collapse of the currency could spell disaster for the world.

But even so, the two-day summit which ends tomorrow could see hard-line positions being taken by a few member countries.

Outside the meeting venue hours before the Summit, we caught up with Paul Ames, a journalist working in Belgium for the past 20 years.

He has covered many European summits before, but this one is probably getting the most attention.

“It’s important because the leaders, I think, are coming to the conclusion that if they don’t take decisive action now to preserve the euro then next week, the markets are going to hit them really hard.”

Ames says Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean should care because if the Euro fails, it will bring down the whole world.

On the table is a proposal for the establishment of banking union where the European Union, as a whole, will guarantee banks in the bloc.

So like in Spain where the Euro is now under extreme pressure because of an unsustainable seven per cent interest on bonds, it’s the Euro Zone which would stand guarantee for its financial sector.

Also on the table is the idea of a financial union which is being advanced by Germany.

The union would see European countries agreeing to strict German-style fiscal policies.

While other countries in Europe, primarily Spain and Italy are on the brink of crumbling, in Germany the economy is booming; there is record production, a very high rate of employment and a search for even more people to work.

Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel will argue that Germany is in this position partly because it has kept tight budgets and cut expenses – the very expenses which countries like Spain and Italy have increased over the past few years.

But while the leaders talk, all eyes are on the money.

damion.mitchell@gleanerjm.com