Van Rompuy wants clearer ‘hierarchy’ to deal with future crises

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has said he is looking to establish a clearer “hierarchy” among the EU institutions and member states to make it easier to deal with any future crises in the eurozone.

Mr Van Rompuy, in charge of a task-force looking into the future of economic governance in the EU, said he proposed to its opening meeting last week that “informal procedures and informal co-ordination mechanisms” be set up to help give some coherence within the EU structure.

“We are working in order to have some crisis cabinet because we are a lot of players in the field – certainly when you are in crisis – and there is not much hierarchy or organic links between the main players and the main institutions.”

“Really, this is a problem,” he told a gathering organised by European Movement International on Tuesday (25 May).

An informal structure could include the European Comission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet and Mr Van Rompuy, a source later said.

The tentative proposal comes after the EU’s often torturous approach to the Greek debt crisis – a protracted response that widened the problem to the eurozone and almost made it a global crisis.

As market-induced panic looked set to gain a foothold, and following the intervention of US President Barack Obama, the 16-member eurozone agreed a €750 million EU/IMF package earlier this month.