EU summit seeks way to spur economic growth

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy attends a news conference after a tripartite social summit ahead of a two-day European Union leaders summit in Brussels March 1, 2012.  [Photo/Agencies]

BRUSSELS - The Europe Union's top leaders Thursday concluded their first day of the spring summit with their focus, for the first time in almost two years, on spurring growth from handling a debt crisis.

The summit also agreed to grant Serbia the EU candidate status and re-appointed Herman Van Rompuy as the European Council president for another two and a half years.

It is the time for the EU to move from "the crisis mode" to "the growth mode," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after the meeting.

Europe has been making "significant progress" in some priorities, Barroso said. He cited as an example the EU's achievement in enhancing economic governance, stabilizing financial markets and the banking sector, strengthening the financial firewalls and averting an imminent default in Greece.

Thus, the spotlight has been turned to growth, Barroso said.

However, the shift of focus may also be a "have-to" as the previous austerity measures to end the debt woes have resulted in rising unemployment and another recession looming over the region.

Unemployment in the 17-nation euro zone hit a euro-era record of 10.7 percent in January, Thursday's data showed, with Spain having the highest rate of 23.2 percent.

The eurozone's economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the final three months. According to the European Commission, eight of the 17 countries using euro are expected to contract during the first three months of 2012.

But no concrete proposals were made on the first day of the meeting. Instead, leaders of 25 of the 27 countries will enforce the EU deficit-cutting and debt reduction rules more strictly by signing a German-driven fiscal compact treaty on Friday.

New EU candidate

The first day of the summit saw Serbia being granted the EU candidate status by the EU leaders.

Van Rompuy congratulated Serbia and encouraged the country to continue its reforms both in political and economic fields to reach the EU membership benchmarks.

He also urged the Serbian government to earnestly implement all agreements with Kosovo. He said the EU hoped both Belgrade and Pristina could carefully deal with the border issues to maintain the stability of the region.

Serbia applied for the EU membership in 2009, and the Kosovo issue remained the main obstacle to its membership pursuit. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008, but Belgrade still considers the territory a Serbian province.

Tensions in northern Kosovo rose last summer when Kosovo authorities ordered special police units to take over two border crossings with Serbia, only to meet strong resistance of local Serbs who set a security border post on fire and blocked the roads.

Van Rompuy re-elected

As the only candidate, Van Rompuy was handed a mandate of another two and a half years as the European Council president during the Brussels summit.

The former Belgian prime minister said immediately after re-election in his Twitter postings that he was "honored" and that it was "a privilege to serve Europe in such decisive times, also a big responsibility."

The president was also elected as chairman of the projected "euro summit" under the upcoming "fiscal compact" scheduled for Friday.

Some experts believe that Van Rompuy's major achievement was providing continuity at a time of severe crisis, while he has also been representing the EU at the United Nations as well as international meetings, together with European Commission President Barroso.

Van Rompuy said in a speech after re-election that his first priority would be given to the economy, and that his job was in a way "the guardian of trust."

The euro and the EU were "irreversible projects," he added.