The euro crisis needs a solution, now. The current measures are too little and too late and are precipitating global financial turmoil. The euro is far from perfect, as this crisis has revealed. But the answer is to fix its faults rather than allow it to undermine and perhaps destroy the global financial system.

We, concerned Europeans, call upon the governments of the eurozone to agree in principle on the need for a legally binding agreement that would: establish a common Treasury that can raise funds for the eurozone as a whole and ensure that member states adhere to fiscal discipline; reinforce common supervision, regulation and deposit insurance within the eurozone; and develop a strategy that will produce both economic convergence and growth because the debt problem cannot be solved without growth.

While a legally binding agreement is being negotiated and ratified, the governments of the eurozone must in the interim empower the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) to cooperate in bringing the crisis under control.

These institutions could then guarantee and eventually recapitalise the banking system and enable countries in need to refinance their debt, within agreed limits, at practically no cost by issuing Treasury bills that can be rediscounted at the ECB.

We call upon the legislatures of the eurozone countries to recognise that the euro needs a European solution. The pursuit of national solutions can only lead to dissolution.

* Note: All have signed in a personal capacity rather than representing the organisations or institutions with which they are otherwise associated.

Signed by: Asger Aamund, Denmark, Martti Ahtisaari, Finland, Anders Aslund, Sweden, Gordon Bajnai, Hungary, Peter Bofinger, Germany, Svetoslav Bojilov, Bulgaria, Emma Bonino, Italy, Maria Cattaui, Greece/Switzerland, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Germany, Bertrand Collomb, France, Massimo D’Alema, Italy, Daniel Daianu, Romania, George David, Cyprus/Greece, Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgium, Pavol Demes, Slovakia, Tibor Dessewffy, Hungary, Andrew Duff, UK, Hans Eichel, Germany, Joschka Fischer, Germany, Timothy Garton Ash, UK, Anthony Giddens, UK, Heather Grabbe, UK, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, France, Alfred Gusenbauer, Austria, Charles Goodhart, United Kingdom, Chris Haskins, UK/Ireland, Pierre Hassner, France, Steven Heinz, Austria, Francois Heisbourg, France, Diego Hidalgo, Spain, Michiel van Hulten, The Netherlands, Jaakko Iloniemi, Finland, Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany, Minna Jarvenpaa, Finland/US, Mary Kaldor, UK, Glenys Kinnock, UK, Gerald Knaus, Austria, Fiorella Kostoris, Italy, Bernard Kouchner, France, Ivan Krastev, Bulgaria, Mark Leonard, UK, Gerard Lyons, UK, George Magnus, UK, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Poland, Dominique Moisi, France, Kalypso Nicolaidis, Greece/France, Christine Ockrent, Belgium, Dick Oosting, The Netherlands, Mabel van Oranje, The Netherlands, Ana Palacio, Spain, Julian Priestly, UK, Andrew Puddephatt, UK, Hélène Rey, France, George Robertson, UK, Albert Rohan, Austria, Dariusz Rosati, Poland, Olivier Roy, France, Daniel Sachs, Sweden, Giuseppe Scognamiglio, Italy, Narcís Serra, Spain, David Simon, UK, Aleksander Smolar, Poland, Javier Solana, Spain, Pedro Solbes, Spain, George Soros, Hungary/US, Ion Sturza, Romania, Paweł Swieboda, Poland, Loukas Tsoukalis, Greece, Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia, David Vines, UK, Antonio Vitorino, Portugal, Norbert Walter, Germany, Stephen Wall, UK, Carlos Alonso Zaldívar, Spain and Stelios Zavvos, Greece.