EU summit favours regulation, not new stimulus

A European Union summit this Thursday and Friday is expected to stress the need for tighter regulation to avoid a repeat of the worst financial crisis in generations. The leaders are wary of launching new recovery measures, which Washington wants.

An analyst in Brussels anticipates the de la Rosière report will receive close attention. Daniel Gros, at the Center for European Policy Studies said: “There’s a part of the De La Rosière report, namely the creation of a European Systemic Council, and the key aspect of this Council would be that it would have detailed information, also confidential information, on the state of health of every bank in Europe.”

A summit draft statement says the EU will offer to contribute to a doubling of International Monetary Fund resources to combat the economic downturn, as ordinary Europeans’ purchasing power continues to take a battering. Britain is seen as sympathetic to US calls for Europe to inject more fiscal stimulus, but other EU members are not, notably Germany and France.

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tags: EU Commission, EU Summit, European Union