On February 2, 2012, the eurozone Member States signed the treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (the “ESM”), and on January 30, 2012, participating Member States agreed on the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, better known as the “fiscal compact.” This memorandum provides an overview of the ESM and the fiscal compact, as well as related emergency measures taken by European Union institutions and Member States in response to the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis, (i) the bundle of five regulations and a directive commonly referred to as the “Six Pack” and (ii) the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism and the European Financial Stability Facility.
