BRUSSELS: European Union leaders opened their first summit of 2012 on Monday, overshadowed by a new row over how to save Greece after Germany suggested placing the country's budget under EU control.
The meeting of 27 EU heads of state and government is mainly aimed at finalising a new pact to toughen budget discipline and finding ways to jumpstart growth and create jobs as recession looms large over Europe.
"Our topics in the meeting address the concerns of our citizens: more and better jobs, especially for young people, economic growth," EU president Herman Van Rompuy said after ringing a little golden bell to open the meeting.
"We have worked hard to overcome the crisis. We have made considerable progress, but we are not yet at the end of the road," he said.
"We must continue to bring down public debt and to stabilise the eurozone while at the same time securing growth and jobs."
Leaders, some facing imminent re-election campaigning, must contend with an unemployment rate averaging 10 percent across the 17-nation eurozone.
Ideas include lowering the tax burden on employers to get more people hired, and giving all youths guaranteed options in work, training or study.
"The ultimate aim of what we are doing is a better life for everyone," Van Rompuy said. "This (European) Council has to be a Council that points the way to more hope."
Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier sought to placate critics of a German proposal to put Greece under the supervision of an EU budget tsar, saying Europe must help Athens enact economic reforms.
The idea that Greece might cede budget control to the EU was contained in a German submission to its eurozone partners first revealed late Friday by the Financial Times and confirmed by European sources.
Under the radical plan, denounced by Greek officials, a commissioner appointed by the 16 other eurozone finance ministers could veto budget decisions made by Athens.
The leaders of Luxembourg and Austria joined Greek officials in rejecting the proposal.
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