Germany, France underscores common ground in fighting financial crisis
They may not see eye-to-eye occasionally, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nocolas Sarkozy showed a united front on Thursday in rejecting U.S. calls for more economic stimulus plans amid a global economic downturn, and they stressed that the upcoming summit of the Group of 20 (G20) should achieve binding results on tougher financial regulations.
Speaking after a German-Franco summit meeting in Berlin, Sarkozy stressed that the two countries have already invested a lot to check economic meltdown. "We don't want to spend more, " said Sarkozy, adding that the European priority now is to achieve international agreements to tighten up regulation of financial markets. Merkel said on Thursday that British Prime Minister Gordon has signed up to agreement achieved at a European summit in Berlin last month which called for tougher regulation of hedge funds, a crackdown on tax havens and more funds for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help countries in crisis.
But British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling seemed to send a different signal by saying on Wednesday that his country and the United States "see eye-to-eye" on the need for economic stimulus.
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