Czechs stand up for free movement of workers

Credit CRunch

Traian Basescu, the president of Romania, has warned major western European banks not to cut off funding for central and eastern European countries that have been hit by the global economic crisis.
He said western European banks that control the banking systems of central and eastern European countries, have “a big responsibility” and “obligation” to keep their credit lines to the east open. He said he would raise the subject at the next EU summit on 19-20 March.
Basescu said that the western European banks, which took control when post-communist countries came under pressure from the EU to privatise, “can't be happy at privatisation and then not meet their obligations towards the Romanian economy later”.
A group of nine banks, including Austria's Raiffeisen International and Erste Bank, Italy's Unicredit and France's Société Générale, last month asked the European Commission and the European Central Bank to extend support to the EU's new member states and beyond them, to Balkan countries.
Basescu's call comes as Romania is considering a potential rescue loan from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to shore up its budget. Basescu and Romanian government representatives have said that they might apply for a €6-7 billion loan to plug the trade deficit.