Van Rompuy calls for restoring confidence to resolve crisis

European leaders are working on a comprehensive package to restore confidence in Europe's financial sector and in bond market for debt-ridden countries, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said here Monday. Van Rompuy made the statement in a joint press conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso after they had met with European workers' and employers' representatives at the Tripartite Social Summit in Brussels. Speaking just days ahead of a key EU summit this weekend and two weeks before a G20 summit scheduled in Cannes, France in early November, Van Rompuy said the European Council was in collaboration with the European Commission to work on a "comprehensive package to create more confidence in the financial sector and in the sovereign bonds of those countries under pressure." The package would corroborate efforts already made so far, including the so-called "six pack," a package of six legislative items on economic coordination and budget discipline, and the expansion of the eurozone safety net European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Details of the package will be discussed at the next EU summit on Sunday. "Confidence is probably the capital that we need most in Europe and only by solving this so-called sovereign crisis can we restore the conditions for confidence, and only confidence can create the context for growth and jobs," Barroso told the press conference. "The message that we received both from the business side and the trade union side is to do whatever is necessary to protect the financial stability of the euro zone," he said. However, many analysts and commentators have criticized the EU approach to the current crisis. Policy makers are accused of placing too much emphasis on austerity and none at all on growth. "In the Six Pack we see only the austerity side, we don't see the growth element," said President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Bernadette Segol. Without growth, there would be fears of recession and depression, he said.