news by www.mrchat.net PARIS/ WASHINGON
The leaders of Europe's four main economic powers held crisis talks on the global financial meltdown on Saturday, brushing aside a dispute that killed off talk of a joint bailout package. After U.S. President George W. Bush signed off on a 700-billion-dollar handout to Wall Street, the financial world's eyes turned to Europe in the hope of more measures to free up capital and reassure jumpy markets. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi were to seek a coordinated response to the credit crunch, which has drained liquidity from banks and stock markets and undermined flagging growth rates. "I want the message to go out from this meeting today: No sound and solvent banks should be allowed to fall because of a lack of liquidity," Brown told reporters ahead of the closed door meeting. Disagreements Before the talks there was sharp disagreement between Germany and France on how to proceed, with Berlin shooting down a French bid to promote a joint European bailout fund similar to the US package. But when Sarkozy welcomed the German chancellor to the summit, the pair were careful to appear in agreement on the broader issues. The European leaders were unlikely to agree a U.S. style fund to underwrite institutions exposed to bad credit. France privately floated the idea this week, European officials said, and the Dutch government talked in terms of more than 300 billion euros (416 billion dollars) being set aside by European governments. Germany and Britain shot this down quickly, however, and the Paris talks were expected to concentrate on improving coordination between governments on financial bailouts and on reform to accountancy rules. France still sees the summit as an opportunity to push for more state regulation in place of the free market approach of recent years that many blame for allowing the crisis to develop. Last week, when the financial storm hit European banks, Sarkozy urged the Group of Eight industrialized powers "to establish the basis of a new international financial system." Britain, France, Germany and Italy are Europe's representatives on the G8. U.S. effects of bailout U.S. President George W. Bush said on Saturday that benefits from the recently passed financial bailout will take time to show up in the U.S. economy. One day after Bush signed the $700 billion rescue package into law, he sought to assure the public that the government would be careful in implementing the legislation aimed at easing a credit crisis that has created turbulence in global financial markets. "In addition to addressing the immediate needs of our financial system, this package will also help to spur America's long-term economic growth," Bush said in his weekly radio address. Bush had pressed all week for Congress to approve the legislation, which was dealt a blow on Monday when the House of Representatives rejected it. A modified version that raised limits on insured bank deposits received final congressional approval on Friday. full news here http://www.mrchat.net/dummy-article/politics/divided-europe-holds-financial-crisis-summit.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
