"I find it noteworthy that most groups are voicing concerns that we are amending the Treaty using an accelerated procedure," said

GUE/NGL President Lothar Bisky during this morning's debate on the permanent stability mechanism and Council's proposal to change the treaty to enable this mechanism to be set for eurozone countries.

Any future crisis mechanism should not create parallel structures, he said, and democratic and parliamentary control should be guaranteed at all stages.

"Such a fundamental decision cannot be taken using a "Europe by decree" process, he added, explaining GUE/NGL Group opposition to the report. "Although people are saying the opposite, this would set a precedent," Bisky concluded.

"It was just a little over a year ago that the Lisbon Treaty came into force. Yet we are already getting started on a second treaty. Was the Lisbon Treaty so poor that it must be changed constantly?" asked Søren Søndergaard (GUE/NGL, Denmark).

The Lisbon Treaty was sold to the people on grounds that it would be permanent and that it would give the EU parliament more influence. "Not only are people not involved in the debate, but the proposed change would mean that major decisions can be taken at EU level without the EU Parliament," he argued.

In agreement with European trade unions he said that this change would pave the way for top-down interference in collective agreements throughout the EU with disastrous consequences for workers' pay scales. "Is this really the way we can win people over to the European project," Søndergaard concluded.

GUE/NGL PRESS CONTACTS:
Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20
David Lundy + 32 485 50 58 12
Gianfranco Battistini + 32 475 64 66 28
Inga Keilmann (DE) +32 493 60 10 23
www.guengl.eu
Gauche Unitaire Européenne/Nordic Green Left
European Parliamentary Group