Final Act: France’s Sarkozy warns Europe risks disintegration

December 8, 2011 – FRANCE – French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned that “never has the risk of disintegration been greater” for Europe in a speech in Marseille. He was addressing a gathering of European leaders of the centre right. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would take years to overcome the crisis but “we need to have more Europe.” EU leaders are preparing for a key summit in Brussels, where they will be trying to clinch a deal on how to tackle the eurozone debt crisis. The key proposal on the agenda of the gathering in the Belgian capital later on Thursday is how to enforce budgetary discipline with automatic penalties for those eurozone nations that overspend. Germany and France are pushing for new European Union treaties, saying stricter fiscal rules should be enshrined there. Mr. Sarkozy said Europe was in much danger. “Never has Europe been so necessary. Never has it been in so much danger,” he said. “Never have so many countries wanted to join Europe. Never has the risk of a disintegration of Europe been so great. Europe is facing an extraordinarily dangerous situation.” He said the eurozone economies still had a few weeks to decide, but that time was working against them. “The diagnosis is that we have a few weeks to decide because time is working against us. If we aren’t in agreement on this, I fear that we won’t be able to agree on anything. That’s the analysis.” Mrs. Merkel has said changes to the European constitution are necessary. She said all 27 member states in the EU had a duty to Europe, and had to work together to overcome the crisis in the eurozone. –BBC