During the crisis, a large majority of EU Member States resorted to the signature of intergovernmental treaties, which are legal instruments concluded outside the procedures of EU Treaties. These are the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG) and the Treaty on the European Stability Mechanism (TESM). These Treaties have been enacted without significant transparent or public debate. Such an intergovernmental approach, represented by the European Council, can be explained by the financial dimension of the crisis and the urgency to quickly put in place significant instruments to overcome this crisis. This raises the issue of potential conflicts between the intergovernmental nature of these Treaties and the EU's own "rule of law".
