Van Rompuy calls for economic union

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy called for an economic union along with the monetary union on Tuesday. "The eurozone has to move towards a real economic union commensurate with the monetary union," he said when addressing 2011 Euro Summit held by the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based think tank. "We have to fight for this 'European Model,' our Economic and Monetary Union, our wealth, social security and Europe's place in the world," he said. He also disclosed that he was embarking on a new set of ideas on how to deepen the economic union, which might require a combination of two things, a significant strengthening of the rules and mechanisms for fiscal responsibility and a large step in integration of economic policies. After putting out the fire of debt crisis, the more important task, according to Van Rompuy, would be to strike a balance between austerity measures and stimulus, between competitiveness and social inclusion. He reiterated that slow economic growth in eurozone should be attributed to credit restraint and lack of confidence, instead of fiscal consolidation. "Overall deficit spending can therefore not be the answer to the current situation," he said.