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EU leaders agree to coordinate economic policies

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-08 09:45

BRUSSELS - European Union (EU) leaders agreed on Friday to coordinate their economic policies as the financial crisis is pushing the European economy into recession.

Finland Prime minister Matti Vanhanen (L) shakes hands with his Czech countrepart Mirek Topolanek (R) as they arrive for an informal working lunch meeting of EU heads of state and governments in Brussels. An international summit next week in Washington should mark only the beginning of a global revamp of the financial order, EU leaders agreed Friday, calling for a second meeting in early spring.[Agencies]

"All have agreed it is necessary to have a coordination of economic policies in Europe," French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, told a press conference after an informal summit with his EU counterparts.

Sarkozy said the EU leaders were convinced of the need to "take economic initiatives after the financial initiatives" since every one was concerned about the seriousness of the economic situation.

An economic forecast released by the European Commission earlier this week showed the eurozone economy is likely already in recession, while the whole EU is expected to be in recession by the end of this year.

For 2009, both the eurozone and the EU economy could barely grow, with an annual growth rate of 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.

Sarkozy said the EU leaders also asked the European Commission to prepare an economic strategy, which will be discussed at a formal EU summit in December.

The commission had said it will unveil a package of proposals to stimulate the European economy later this month.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the same press conference that it was an important unanimity among EU leaders that the 27-nation bloc should look beyond the financial crisis to an economic crisis.

"I was particularly happy to see the support given to the idea that was put forward by the Commission about the need to have a coordinated European response," he said.

EU countries had been divergent on the extent to which they should coordinate their policies to save the real economy, mirroring their fragmented responses to the financial crisis at the initial stage.

Germany went alone with its own 50-billion-euro plan to revive the EU's largest economy on Wednesday.

But Sarkozy said German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on the need to prelaunch economies and coordinate responses.