'EURO-PLUS-PACT' AGREED, 6 NON-EURO STATES JOIN INCLUDING BULGARIA

Euro zone leaders have reached a deal to form a "Euro-Plus-Pact" providing for closer economic coordination between Euro Area states and non-euro countries which volunteered to join, including Bulgaria. The "Euro-Plus-Pact" – initially known as a euro zone competitiveness pact or just an euro pact, proposed last month by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy – was agreed upon in Brussels Thursday where EU 27 leaders came together for an European Council meeting, EU Observer reported.

In addition to the 17 Euro Area countries, six non-euro-using states – Denmark, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania – have opted to join the Euro-Plus-Pact, with the UK, Sweden, Hungary, and the Czech Republic staying out, at least at the current stage of its formation. The last name of the Euro-Plus-Pact was used by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in a Tweeter message announcing the joining of the six non-euro countries.

The "competitiveness pact", a plan for closer economic integration, has been widely described by international media as being demanded by Germany as the price for dipping in its pocket to boost the EU's bail-out funds for countries in financial trouble such as Greece, Ireland, and now, likely, Portugal.