No "lazy compromises," Merkel says after dividing euro-crisis deal

Brussels, 9 December 2011 (MIA) - Europe has refused to settle for 'lazy compromises,' German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday, hours after eurozone governments decided to split ways with Britain over the implementation of tighter, crisis-fighting budget rules.

'The Brits have always been outside the euro ... So we are already familiar with this situation,' Merkel said as she arrived for a second day of meetings with her EU counterparts.

'(British Prime Minister) David Cameron sat with us at one table. We made this decision, we couldn't make lazy compromises, for the benefit of the euro,' she added. 'We had to decide tough rules.'

But Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite was more blunt.

'Brits divided and they are outside of decision-making,' she told reporters ahead of the Brussels meeting. 'Europe is united.'

Cameron argued that the deal presented by his EU partners was 'not in the interest of Britain.' Hungary, the Czech Republic and Sweden also did not immediately endorse the agreement, saying that they needed to consult their parliaments.

Merkel pointed out that the door would remain open for more countries to later sign up to the reforms, which are set to initially be enshrined in an intergovernmental treaty applicable only to the eurozone's 17 members and six other countries.

'This won't prevent Europe from advancing jointly in many other questions,' she said, noting that the 27 countries would come together on Friday morning to welcome Croatia into their fold.

Merkel also expressed hope that the euro deal would prove convincing to financial markets and the global community, which had put intense pressure on the EU to end its two-year-old debt crisis.

'Everyone in the world will see that we have learned from our past mistakes,' Merkel said. 'I am very satisfied with the outcome.