Clegg calls for Europe to work together over crisis

Seeking to re-engage with European leaders in the wake of David Cameron’s treaty veto, the Deputy Prime Minister and Sheffield Hallam MP insisted: “We will not sort out this crisis by falling apart.”

He was speaking to fellow liberals from across Europe at a Whitehall summit to address economic challenges and his remarks came after the Prime Minister sent shockwaves through the coalition and the UK’s relations with Europe by vetoing a new European Union treaty designed to tackle the problems facing the eurozone.

Mr Clegg, a staunch pro-European, sought to reassure his allies in Europe as they gathered in London yesterday.

“We can only address these problems by pulling together,” he said.

“The one lesson we have learnt over and over again in Europe, to our cost, is that we are stronger when we are together and weaker when we are apart.

“It is immensely important to work as liberals, in all our different countries, in all our different ways, to promote unity over disunity and to promote co-operation rather than needless rivalry and isolation.”

Mr Clegg also warned that fiscal austerity was not enough and had to be accompanied by economic growth.

“We will not solve this economic crisis through economic austerity alone. Fiscal discipline, fiscal austerity is an absolutely necessary condition in order to move forward, but it isn’t a sufficient condition for the European economy,” he said.

Among those joining Mr Clegg for lunch and roundtable discussions were Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler.

Mr Clegg said: “Unity will get us through this crisis better than disunity, and growth will get us through this crisis where fiscal austerity alone cannot.”