Limited success at EU summit

Updated: 2012-10-20 19:51

(Xinhua)

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BEIJING - Limited success has been achieved on the banking system at a two-day EU summit in Brussels, but more efforts are needed to tackle the bloc's thorny issues.

After EU-style marathon talks, leaders agreed to complete the legal framework for a single banking supervisor in Europe by the end of this year, which is considered a crucial measure to prevent banking risks and cross-border contagion from emerging.

However, such limited progress could hardly cheer up the whole region amid deep financial woes, as European shares ended a four-day successive rise and fell on Friday.

Although the leaders have reached consensus on the legal framework, details such as the timeline and the role of non-eurozone countries within the supervisory mechanism were yet to be determined.

Besides, the uncertainty of a possible Spain bailout and the methods to pull Greece out of its debt dilemma are still up in the air, as member countries' respective political considerations narrowed the vision of the policymakers, putting their debt-laden partners and themselves in deeper economic risks.

Moreover, stimulating growth under current austerity measures is seen as another difficulty that EU currently faces and fails to spell out publicly.

The EU has always been seen as a whole especially in economic ways. EU leaders should realize that issues in Spain and Greece could not be treated as a hot potato.

Inaction might trigger further problems of deeper economic downturn, higher unemployment rate and more capital flight.

For now, the progress over banking system is far from enough to pacify the potential panic raised by the ongoing uncertainty over sovereign debts.

The EU has long been one of the largest trade partners of many countries across the world. In order to eliminate the domino effect, the EU has to come up with more cures to tackle the crisis fundamentally and thoroughly.