Signing up or staying out?

Who will say ‘Yes’ to the inter-governmental treaty?

Questions remain over how many non-eurozone countries will sign up to the ‘fiscal compact’ deal reached at the summit.

In the early hours of Friday morning (9 December) only the UK ruled out support for a European Union-wide agreement, forcing leaders to draw up a separate inter-governmental legal framework.

The preliminary deal on creating a separate treaty had the backing of the 17 eurozone member states plus five others: Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. The further four – the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary and Sweden – approved continued work on the treaty, but said they would need to consult their parliaments before being able to sign it.

The prime minister of a eurozone country that has twice vetoed EU treaties in the past – Ireland’s Enda Kenny – refused to be drawn on whether he would call a referendum. Lucinda Creighton, Ireland’s Europe affairs minister, said on Tuesday (13 December) that Ireland would not decide whether a referendum was necessary before seeing the final draft text in March.

However, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said that he hoped the countries would hold consultations with their national parliaments “rather rapidly”. The aim is for member states to ratify the deal by June 2012.

SWEDEN

Frederik Reinfeldt, Sweden’s prime minister, hinted that it was more likely that his country would not sign up, saying that it “would seem a bit odd because it would seem as if you were part of the euro”.

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic may remain outside, with Petr Necas, the prime minister, saying that he had concerns over how much power and control the European Commission would have over national budgets. He also pointed to uncertainties about tax harmonisation, social policies and the role of the EU’s institutions.

He said that he and Reinfeldt had been co-ordinating their positions “very closely” and that there was no deadline for approval of the agreement, only “milestones”.

HUNGARY

Hungarian officials said they did not have a mandate from their parliament to accept an inter-governmental agreement at this summit, having only obtained authorisation to accept treaty change. A new mandate from the parliament will be needed.

DENMARK

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s prime minister, said she did not yet have a mandate to agree to the new treaty. “We haven’t said yes to participate,” she said, adding that she would now have to consult the parliament over whether Denmark should sign up.

Thorning-Schmidt said after the summit that she could not rule out the need for a national referendum, but later said that this was “unlikely”.