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| EU holds financial reform summit | EU holds financial reform summit |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| EU leaders will meet in Brussels shortly to co-ordinate their approach to the financial crisis ahead of a global summit in Washington next week. | EU leaders will meet in Brussels shortly to co-ordinate their approach to the financial crisis ahead of a global summit in Washington next week. |
| The leaders believe there needs to be serious reform of the international financial architecture, the BBC's Jonny Dymond reports from Brussels. | The leaders believe there needs to be serious reform of the international financial architecture, the BBC's Jonny Dymond reports from Brussels. |
| Smaller EU states, whose leaders will not go to Washington, will have a chance to air their concerns on Friday. | Smaller EU states, whose leaders will not go to Washington, will have a chance to air their concerns on Friday. |
| There are some strong disagreements about the degree of regulation needed. | There are some strong disagreements about the degree of regulation needed. |
| Some countries would like to see, in effect, a rewriting of the rules of the free market, while others think there is a risk of rushed regulation strangling future growth, our correspondent says. | Some countries would like to see, in effect, a rewriting of the rules of the free market, while others think there is a risk of rushed regulation strangling future growth, our correspondent says. |
| Room for Obama | Room for Obama |
| France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, chairing the Brussels meeting, says the 15 November Washington summit needs to be "a new Bretton Woods" - referring to the 1944 meeting which led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund and other global institutions. | France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, chairing the Brussels meeting, says the 15 November Washington summit needs to be "a new Bretton Woods" - referring to the 1944 meeting which led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund and other global institutions. |
| He wants fundamental reform of the international financial system to ensure there can be no repeat of the global banking crisis - widely held to be the worst since the 1929 Wall Street crash. | He wants fundamental reform of the international financial system to ensure there can be no repeat of the global banking crisis - widely held to be the worst since the 1929 Wall Street crash. |
| France is keen for the EU to demand a 100-day deadline for action - a timescale that could involve US President-elect Barack Obama in the proposed reforms. | France is keen for the EU to demand a 100-day deadline for action - a timescale that could involve US President-elect Barack Obama in the proposed reforms. |
| UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters on Friday that "we've got to get the banks resuming lending". | |
| He stressed that "the key to solving this problem is not wholly the action we can take nationally, but what we can do globally". | |
| The European Central Bank cut its eurozone interest rates by half a percentage point to 3.25% on Thursday, in an effort to prevent a recession. | |
| Meanwhile, the Bank of England made a shock one-and-a-half percentage point cut in UK interest rates to 3%. | |
| Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson said "it is time the EU puts flesh on the bones of policy needs identified at the last summit" in mid-October. | Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson said "it is time the EU puts flesh on the bones of policy needs identified at the last summit" in mid-October. |
| "Progress needs to be made, for example, on a more institutionalised approach to regulation. However, the danger of too much summitry is that governments begin to disagree. The conclusions of this summit should be concise and businesslike," he said. | "Progress needs to be made, for example, on a more institutionalised approach to regulation. However, the danger of too much summitry is that governments begin to disagree. The conclusions of this summit should be concise and businesslike," he said. |