Leaders of Europe's major economies vow to do their utmost to prevent the 27-member EU from being hit by a major economic crisis. Lisa Bryant has more on the special summit meeting in Paris, Saturday.
Leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Britain have agreed to sign a formal pact to support their financial banking sector that is being beaten by the world financial crisis. French President Nicolas Sarkozy - whose country currently heads the European Union and who called the Paris summit - outlined several other areas the leaders agreed on.
Mr. Sarkozy said the countries will coordinate with other states in dealing with the crisis, and that they will demand EU regulators be flexible in aiding businesses. But he said they also agreed that business executives be responsible for their failures. The governments also called for global leaders to meet as soon as possible to deal with the financial meltdown.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said EU leaders agreed to release about $44 billion to help small business deal with the crisis. And he sounded a note of assurance when it came to banks.
"As our central banks are already doing, liquidity will be assured in order to preserve confidence and stability. We agreed that we must do more to coordinate our response in times of crisis and in the interest of stability," he said.
Also attending the summit were the European Central Bank head, the prime minister of Luxemburg who is also head of the Eurozone group, and the head of the European Commission.
