The EU presidency urges all 27 EU member states to work together to
bringstability to the financial market.

LUXEMBOURG (OCTOBER 6, 2008) REUTERS -
The EU renewed its appeal to EU countries to coordinate national
responses to the financial crisis on Monday (October 6) as more member states
acted unilaterally to protect bank deposits and rescue ailing banks.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the European Union
executive stood ready to work with governments to ensure that national bank
deposit guarantees "interact properly".
Ireland was first last week to issue an unlimited guarantee of deposits
in its own banks, angering neighbouring Britain and raising competition
concern in Brussels.
Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said the European member states
risked collapsing because of the lack of coordination between them.
"There are some plans on the table. It is extremely important to
arrive at a common European framework and I guess in the end it will be about
two matters: first of all what does it exactly guarantee and second up to what
level, up to what amount of money. On this we see see too much variety in
Europe. We risk a race to the bottom or a race to the top if you like. I don't
think that is in Europe's interest," Bos said.
Coming late at the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg French Finance
Minsiter Christine Lagarde said all the ministers' energy should go into
bringing stability.
"There are some plans on the table. It is extremely important to
arrive at a common European framework and I guess in the end it will be about
two matters: first of all what does it exactly guarantee and second up to what
level, up to what amount of money. On this we see see too much variety in
Europe. We risk a race to the bottom or a race to the top if you like. I don't
think that is in Europe's interest," Lagarde said.
Germany said on Monday it was considering a nationwide
"umbrella" to shield its banks from market turmoil as concern
mounted in Berlin about the risks of financial contagion for Europe's largest
economy.
Germany has resisted pressure from European partners for an EU-wide
rescue package for banks that would mirror the 700 billion U.S. dollar plan in
the United States and, until Monday, argued that bank troubles should be
handled on a case-by-case basis.
But Steinbrueck reversed course on Monday saying he was very much aware
that at some point individual solutions are no longer enough.
Sweden, Austria and Denmark followed Germany's lead by offering
guarantees to savers.