French European Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre JOUYET speaking for the Council on the financial crisis said that “European co-ordination was a practical reality.”  Banks, regulators and the European Commission were all working together.  “The EU is not a federal state comparable to the US”, he said. Minister Jouyet welcomed the co-ordinated announcement of a half point cut by Central Banks across the world and stressed the importance of stabilising the inter-bank market.  Specifically, Mr Jouyet welcomed the measures announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the UK.  He called on the Commission to show some “flexibility” as regards EU state-aid and competition rules. Finally, Mr Jouyet called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to act as a real “financial policeman” as, he said,  was the intention when it was created.
 
On the energy and climate package, Minister Jouyet said that he hoped to maintain the ambitious goals set out in the Commission proposals and that a first-reading agreement could be reached.
 
On the Lisbon Treaty, the Minister recalled that the Irish government should bring forward a “roadmap” that all Member States can sign up to for the December European Council.  “We need the treaty more than ever”, he said.  
  
Europe has the rules it needs to tackle the financial market crisis in a European way, but this will be a severe test of its ability to co-ordinate effectively and act quickly, said Commission President José Manuel BARROSO.
 
Public intervention mostly takes place at national level because that's where the money and expertise are, but Member States must act on common principles, so as to take account of the cross-border effects of rescue operations, he continued, noting that in Europe, “two thirds of banking assets already have cross-border aspects”.
 
Commission proposals on capital requirements, credit rating agencies and executive pay restraint (if better heeded) would help to build confidence, but Member States must show their resolution to act quickly, he said.
 
Meanwhile, the Commission is setting up a high-level group, chaired by former IMF Director-General Jacques de Larosière, to reflect on how Europe's financial market supervisory architecture can be made to fit its needs. This group will include European Commissioners Neelie Kroes (competition), Joaquin Almunia (economic and monetary affairs and Charlie McCreevy (internal market and services).
 
Some may say that a downturn is no time to worry about climate change, but progress on remedial measures is in fact central to our future prosperity, said the President.
 
On EU institutional reform, Mr Barroso avoided prejudging the way forward, but stressed the difficulty of managing crises when the Presidency rotates every six months. “These are unprecedented times, and we need to rise to the occasion”, he concluded.
 
The financial crisis is very worrying for the economy, jobs, and for millions of people who worked hard to save and see that the fruits of their efforts are vulnerable, said Joseph DAUL (EPP-ED, FR). Europe must manage the crisis and learn lessons, pooling its efforts to minimise the impact on its economies and firms - particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, which need support measures, he continued.
 
Financial markets are not working properly, credit rating agencies are not able to publish figures showing true levels of solvency, and it is “unacceptable” that the people who brought banks to their knees are not held to account, he stressed.
 
Mr Daul urged those Member States that have not yet ratified the draft Lisbon Treaty to do so as soon as possible, and hoped that it could be finally adopted in December. The Treaty is needed to enable the EU to take tough decisions, be they about the financial crisis or its own institutions, he said. 
 
On climate change, Mr Daul warned against alarming industrialists, who have enough to worry about already. “We need time to save the planet for our children and grandchildren”, he concluded.
 
“We need Lisbon more than ever” to help us to deal with crises, and we have to win over the Irish people to get it, said Martin SCHULZ (PES, DE).
 
Mr Schulz thought Commissioner Almunia an excellent choice for the high-level steering group announced by Mr Barroso. He was less happy with that of Mr McCreevy, whom he called an “apologist for untrammelled market capitalism”. This would the “arsonist taking over the fire brigade”, he said, adding that Ms Kroes “wants to do away with public savings banks”.
 
“We have been hearing for years that the market will sort it out”, but “the neo-liberal mainstream has just collapsed in a heap”, he continued, stressing the need to think hard about appropriate rules for the new architecture, and suggesting that some forms of speculation should be prohibited by law.
 
Graham Watson (ALDE, UK) for the ALDE group said “At next week’s European Council you must move forward discussions on the Lisbon Treaty. We need a collective response to the financial crisis. We cannot sustain a situation in which Member States surprise one another with unilateral decisions with multilateral implications. Europe needs coordinated and consistent policies to stem the flow of financial losses, to establish transparency and good practice and to prevent future woes.”
 
There are some who think they can now tap dance on the grave of capitalism, but solutions will not be found in closed markets and command economies. What we witness is not the failure of the market economy. Rather it is the excesses of unfettered, ineffectively regulated markets. Financial markets currently owe less to Adam Smith than to Cincinnati Kid. The greed of individual bankers, traders and short-sellers is certainly to blame, but so too is the failure of governments to ensure transparency and honesty in their dealings. They are not an overnight cure, but they will help to remedy the underlying sickness. It is right to raise deposit guarantee protection to a 50,000 euro minimum across the Union. Family savings will be secure and capital flight discouraged. We also look forward to hearing the Commission’s proposal to promote convergence of deposit guarantee schemes, just as we support rapid adoption of your ideas for improving capital adequacy. When you look at credit rating agencies, look at who pays their fees and at how they are supervised.
 
But we also need to strengthen the links between national financial regulators. Representatives from the Euro zone central banks sit together in the Governing Council of the ECB. “
 
Speaking for the Greens/EFA group, Pierre JONCKHEER (BE) said he had three messages, the first being that the European Parliament is split. ”It was missing when it came to managing the financial crisis. The financial crisis shows inadequacy of shared European rule. We need more Europe and not less Europe.“
 
His second message concerned the ”responsibility of players“. He said it is time to pinpoint the guilty. ”It is too easy for me to point the finger at the Commission, when a number of Commissioners failed with legislation. It involves self regulation or no regulation at all.“ He added that people should shoulder their responsibilities.
 
His final point focused on the link between the financial and ecological crisis. ”The financial crisis doesn't mean that the ecological crisis goes away“. He said it was crucial that reflection groups should be instructing to ensure long term financing for the energy and climate package is guaranteed.
 
Brian CROWLEY (UEN, IE)  congratulated the Council for its efforts particularly with regards to Russia and Georgia. ”It took a lot of strength, a lot of courage and diplomacy to find a peaceful resolution to the difficulties we faced.“ He added that strong leadership can achieve more than military might or economic wealth.
 
With regard to the Lisbon Treaty, Ireland was thankful for the period of reflection given to it by Member States, but stressed that it is not different to the period of reflection that France and the Netherlands got when they rejected the Constitutional Treaty. ”It takes time to put forward proposals and ideas. We must sure that we don't hold the gun to anyone's heads as regards as to whether or not it will ratify the treaty.“
 
With regard to the present financial crisis, Mr Crowley said that we must first of all guarantee to protect the ordinary person. The banks, he said, have got a guarantee but with that guarantee comes responsibility for them to now start lending to businesses and people to allow the economies to pick up. Not only, he said, is it about cutting the wages or salaries of executives, it is about ensuring that the economic cycle can get back to where it is supposed to be.

 
Francis WURTZ (GUE/NGL, FR) said that European leaders had ”done away with moderation“ and this ”increased inequalities between people“. ”This capitalist system is so brutal and has been for the last decade and European leaders should be held accountable for this brutality.“ 
 
He called for more honesty and a guarantee that SMEs do not lose their small fortunes. ”We have been too shy, too slow and unclear on this front so far.“  He also stressed the importance of ethics because efficiency alone is not going ”to prevent the wizards in the financial industry from drawing profits and creaming off the best from this disastrous situation.“ He finished by saying that these extreme times demand ”reactive and innovative policies worthy of European citizens“.

 
Nigel FARAGE (IND/DEM, UK) noted that European leader's smiles were weak last week as they talked about solidarity because ”President's Sarkozy's US-style bailout plan had already collapse into the dust.“ He pointed to the ”hypocrisy“ of this notion of solidarity, claiming that countries were acting in ”their own interests“, a trend that had been started by Ireland ”by going their own way“.
 
To stop countries acting on their won interests we need to ”take that power away from them“, but this would not command public support. ”What happened last week marks the beginning of the end“, he said but ”I see a speck of light. I see a dividend. The possibility of the beginning of the end to this mad and unwanted project.“
 
Jana BOBOŠÍKOVÁ (NI, CZ) warned that ”political elites should understand that there is no such thing as a free lunch“. She said that governments now are offering to bail out ”irresponsible bankers“ and this creates a ”moral hazard“. It gives the impression that ”they can rake in the profits without any financial responsibility“. She added that this action will only serve to delay a crisis rather than avert it.  
 
Philip BUSHILL-MATTHEWS (EPP-ED, UK) said that taking into consideration the current financial crisis, the rapid appointment of a new Trade Commissioner is so important at this time and he strongly suggested that the hearing for the new appointee be brought forward.
 
With regard to SMEs, Mr Bushill-Matthews reported that he recently noticed that the end of August was the closure date for consultation on the Late Payments Directive. He asked for that consultation period to be reopened just for a further couple of months, because he believes that fresh message about the lack of working capital is something that we really ought to take on board. Mr Bushill-Matthews was not convinced that a Late Payments Directive review would solve the problem, but he thought that this sort of analysis would contribute to an understanding of the problem.
 
Proinsias De ROSSA (PES, IE).said that the  the Irish Government must seek to resolve the Irish roadblock to Lisbon, and should do so by maintaining Ireland as a full member, not as a semi-detached member which opt-outs would relegate us to. ”We need Lisbon now more than ever to strengthen Europe globally and to respond effectively to citizens’ concerns. “ The euro, he said, is an example of what Europe can achieve when it seriously shares sovereignty. Certainly, if Ireland had opted to keep the Irish pound it would have disappeared, sunk without trace by now.
 
While President Barroso, he said, has admitted he got little cooperation from Member States in producing a coordinated response to the crisis, he is silent, however, about Commissioner McCreevy's continued resistance to re-regulation. Mr De Rossa expressed concern concerned at the inclusion of Mr McCreevy in the three-person body that President Barroso is establishing.
 

Colm BURKE (EPP-ED, IE) said that, in his view, there cannot be a second referendum for at least 12 months in order to allow adequate consultation with the Irish electorate. A second referendum, he said, should be called during the autumn of next year, possibly in October. This means that Parliament elections will have to take place under the Nice Treaty, but this is the lesser of two evils in my opinion.
 
As to the nature of the second referendum, Mr Burke proposed an extended plebiscite to the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland where there would be a constitutional referendum on yes or no to the Lisbon Treaty while on the same day, polling consultative referenda on key opt in, opt out issues such as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and European Security and Defence Policy. If in the extended referendum Irish voters were to opt out of either of these two areas, the Irish Government could then seek a separate agreement at the European Council to be signed by all 27 Member States. This move would be similar to the precedent of the Edinburgh Agreement sought by the Danes at the Council in December 1992 which granted Denmark four exemptions to the Maastricht Treaty. This allowed them to ratify the Treaty over all. With this plan, Member States who have already ratified the Lisbon Treaty would not have to do so again. This extended plebiscite would offer the Irish electorate a choice as to the extent of the role that they want to play within the European Union.
 
John PURVIS (EPP-ED, UK). said that it is absolutely essential that the inter-bank market is restarted. The only sure way to achieve this is to have sovereign state guarantees for wholesale inter-bank deposits, as indeed Ireland and Denmark have done in their domestic markets. While the contingent liability is enormous, he said,  when the inter-bank market restarts, the banks will stop hoarding, they will start lending again to businesses and individuals and householders, inter-bank rates will return to normal levels and it is an absolute certainty that those guarantees will not need to be used.
 
He agreed with Mr Jouyet that this has to be done on a global basis. ”It is the proper role of the IMF, as you said, to coordinate this action and only with such a bold move and on a global basis will we put out the fire and start to rekindle confidence.“