THE GUARDIAN: Turmoil in international markets hangs over emergency summit of European leaders
European leaders are battling a crisis of confidence in the euro single currency tonight, desperately seeking a formula to reassure the markets as the emergency triggered by Greece's huge debt levels and Europe's response threatened to go global.
An emergency summit of the 16 leaders of the countries using the single currency was held in Brussels, with chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and president Nicolas Sarkozy of France demanding tougher and quicker regulation of the financial markets in what looked like a doomed attempt to contain contagion from the Greek drama.
With the pace of developments outstripping the ability of political leaders to respond, what was initially called as a summit to bless a €110bn (£95bn) rescue package for Greece turned into a frantic exercise in global crisis management.
Alarm bells were ringing in major capitals across the world where leaders voiced their exasperation with European attempts to contain the fallout from Greece. In what may have been Alistair Darling's last part in trying to manage international financial turbulence, the chancellor took part in a phone conference of G-7 finance ministers discussing the implications for the international bond markets of the Greek debt debacle.
Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was scathing about the EU package for Greece over three years agreed last weekend by 15 eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund: "Markets have judged those arrangements to be inadequate," he [said]. >>> Ian Traynor, Brussels | Friday, May 07, 2010
