Leaders of the European Union have agreed on the need for a permanent mechanism to protect the Union from a new financial crisis. Speaking at the EU Summit in Brussels, the EU Council President said, the absence of such mechanism had nearly brought down the Euro zone earlier this year. Explaining what the mechanism would involve, he said, it will detect balances and risks like housing bubbles; it will observe the competitiveness of member-States and if a country loses too much to competitiveness action will be taken particularly within the Euro zone. The EU leaders said, limited changes in EU's Lisbon Treaty will be needed. Earlier, the summit of the heads of state and government of the European Union began amid row over a plan to amend a part of the EU's Lisbon Treaty so as to prevent debt crisis.Germany and France have been demanding changes to the treaty, including new sanctions on member-nations violating the limits on budgetary deficit and debts set by the Growth and Stability Pact to prevent a repeat of Greek debt crisis. However, the change is vehemently opposed by smaller EU member nations such as Luxembourg, Belgium and the Czech Republic, which fear that it could lead to several years of negotiations as well long delays in ratification by national parliaments.