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EU, US at odds ahead of London G20 summit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-11 11:36

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said after the eurozone meeting: "The euro area ministers agreed that the recent American appeals insisting that Europeans make additional budgetary efforts to combat the effect of the crisis was not to our liking."

"We are not prepared to go further in the recovery packages that we have put together," he said. "We are not giving the impression that we are considering implementing further recovery packages."

Meanwhile, Washington seems reluctant to see real progress in regulatory reform of the global financial architecture, a key demand which the EU has voiced.

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In an effort to hammer out a common European position, leaders from eight EU countries met in Berlin last month. They backed sweeping new regulations for financial markets and hedge funds, which will be discussed by all 27 EU leaders at a summit next week.

"All financial markets, products and participants including hedge funds and other private pools of capital which may pose a systematic risk must be subjected to appropriate oversight or regulation," the leaders said.

As a key figure behind the EU push for better financial regulations, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to use the opportunity of hosting the G20 summit as a drive for concrete results.

He paid a two-day visit to Washington earlier this month, seeking support from the US government for a new global financial order.

Despite Obama's endorsement of regulatory reform, it is not likely the US Congress will accept the idea, analysts said, warning the divergence across the Atlantic may complicate prospects for what the London financial summit can really achieve.

The US government, however, has denied that there is a rift with the EU ahead of the summit.

"Our efforts at the G20 in London will focus on a number of subjects, both financial regulation and economic stimulus, largely because there is not one single solution to those problems," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Monday.

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