The French government this evening published a letter from Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, calling for an informal EU summit by the end of February.
The two leaders said that while measures to tackle the crisis were being taken by member states at national level it is “essential that a co-ordinated approach is followed to maximise the benefits for the whole of the Union”.
On Monday, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek announced that he was calling an extra summit of EU leaders at the end of February to address the economic crisis and in response to what he called “protectionist statements”. Sarkozy provoked anger in the Czech Republic when he said that car firms like Peugeot and Renault who receive billions of euros in government support should not be opening plants outside France.
“If we give money to the car industry for restructuring, we don't do so in order to discover that a new factory will be moved to the Czech Republic or elsewhere,” he said in a television interview last Thursday.
The Merkel-Sarkozy letter says that revising the value of assets has contributed to a loss of confidence in the banking sector. While the solutions to the problem can vary from country to country, the “orientations and principles” for valuing assets should be approved together, “to ensure the correct functioning of the single market and to avoid negative consequences for the Union”.
Sarkozy and Merkel say that the economic situation is putting public finances under strong pressure. “Citizens expect us to take into account the interest of future generations. We have to confirm our commitment to return finances to sustainable level over time.”
The letter comes amid increasing fears that national measures such as the bank bail-out and aid to the car-sector are protectionist and could undermine the single market.
