The Euro Area has strengthened its fiscal frameworks with the adoption of the Fiscal Compact.
The fiscal compact, first announced in December, is designed to impose discipline in government finances.
Today, markets question whether the Irish will support the new Fiscal Compact in a May referendum.
The very need for a new fiscal compact stems from previous failures in policing public finances.
The fiscal compact, then, is a step towards unleashing just over 1tn euros worth of lending.
The fiscal compact will come into effect when 12 of the 17 euro members ratify it.
As a result, any immediate obstacle to the ESM, the fiscal compact and the OMT disappeared.
The central element of that treaty, known as the fiscal compact, is something called a debt brake.
Ireland holds a referendum soon afterwards on the fiscal compact, which enshrines balanced-budget rules across the euro zone.
And she wants ratification of the fiscal compact to be made a condition for countries receiving future bail-outs.
Worse, he says he wants to renegotiate the European Union's fiscal compact, a hard-won treaty on budgetary discipline.
The fiscal compact will now go before national parliaments and, in the case of the Irish Republic, a referendum.
The debate about the fiscal compact has shown that most member countries, in particular France, are not willing to conform.
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Now, as is clear from Thursday night's summit statement, these common institutions are to oversee a selective "fiscal compact".
Others want to give the budget committees in national parliaments a clear role in monitoring and applying the fiscal compact.
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All 27 EU states apart from the UK and Czech Republic accept the fiscal treaty - officially called the Fiscal Compact.
Agreement was reached on the fiscal compact, the new treaty to toughen budget rules, in record time: less than two months.
Here the crucial issue seems to be whether the fiscal compact will be seen to be enough to warrant increased purchases.
Mr Van Rompuy is offering an alternative plan, a fast-track "fiscal compact" that does not need lengthy ratification by parliaments or national referendums.
Much of this can be done so long as Mr Hollande does not try to reopen the actual text of the fiscal compact.
The two met to align in respect to the conditions of the fiscal compact agreed upon by the European Union(EU) last December.
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Structure has been partially addressed by the new focus of the EFSF and ESM along with the supranational issues addressed by the fiscal compact.
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Does it matter whether the euro zone allows governments an extra year or two to bring deficits back to levels required under the fiscal compact?
The prevailing logic is that the fiscal compact will positively affect the eurozone members credit ratings, as faith in them is re-established by institutional investors.
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And the fiscal compact that was the summit's centrepiece is flawed.
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The fiscal compact impinges no more than that on national sovereignty.
As for solidarity, adoption of the fiscal compact is her condition for granting new bail-outs under the permanent euro-zone rescue fund coming into effect this year.
Filippo Cavazzuti, former Italian senator and economist at the University of Bologna, believes Bersani will be forced to maintain Monti's policies under the European fiscal compact.
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The fiscal compact falls short of a commitment to issue eurozone eurobonds, something Germany has been against since they were discussed as a possible solution this summer.
Mrs Merkel congratulated the president-elect by phone and invited him to Berlin to hold talks soon, but she warned the fiscal compact was "not up for grabs".
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