Sarkozy: UK veto creates "two Europes"

PanARMENIAN.Net - The French President has said that there are now clearly "two Europes", following last week's summit in which the UK vetoed EU treaty changes, BBC reports.

Nicolas Sarkozy said he and Chancellor Merkel of Germany did everything they could to persuade the UK to sign up to the EU deal to tackle the debt crisis.

He told Le Monde the agreement marked "the birth of a different Europe".

UK PM David Cameron defended his decision, telling MPs he acted to protect the UK's financial sector. "We went seeking a deal at 27 [EU members] and I responded to the German and French proposal for treaty change in good faith, genuinely looking to reach an agreement at the level of the whole of the European Union with the necessary safeguards for Britain. Those safeguards on the single market and on financial services were modest, reasonable and relevant," he told the British parliament.

Mr Cameron said it was possible to be a full, committed and influential member of the EU, but to stay out of arrangements where they do not protect British interests.

In an interview with Le Monde newspaper, Mr Sarkozy said that there is one Europe "which wants more solidarity between its members and regulation, the other [is] attached solely to the logic of the single market".

European leaders agreed in Brussels to plans for deeper economic integration among the countries that use the euro, and in particular to impose sanctions on states that go over an agreed budget deficit limit.