| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Are the general public warming to Gordon Brown in his handling of the f | |
| Posted by: | Fraser Pearce | |
| Date/Time: | 13/10/08 10:34:00 |
| “Latest news at 6:00pm. The 14 euro countries are likely to adopt Britain's approach of investing in banks. 4 UK banks are receiving a total investment of £40B. USA has already said it is likely to follow Britain's lead. Let's hope for all our good that Merkel and Sarkozy will swallow their pride and backtrack on their previous nationalistic statements.” Michael - With respect, your views on “Britain’s lead” sounds a little “nationalistic” to me. The plan is an EU one, not British. Like as iceberg below the water, there's a whole context to this most people have missed. In September, the EU Commission changed the “shortcomings” in Directive 2006/49/EC. Then came the EU Parliament and Council ‘amending directive’ aiming to correct and improve the rules on the crucial area of "crisis management market value" laying at the heart of this latest stage of the financial crisis. Next came the 21-page twin Commission Directives and 148-page impact assessment document. The amended legislation was quietly announced on 1st October – which gave the green light to Ireland, Germany and the UK to actually do something on a national level. This policy was cemented by the EU’s inner cabinet in Paris two weekends ago (Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown and Berlusconi). Then the plan got 27-nation approval at the Ecofin meeting last Tuesday, with the first stage only being announced on Wednesday in the UK. The reason the UK went first is because, as a proportion of GDP, we have the most to lose if the banks go tits up. Plus, the stakes are perhaps higher in Britain thanks to the little issues of chronic national and consumer debt that far outweigh those of our EU brethren. We’ll see how rigorous things are on October 23rd. By the way, a fortnight ago, an individual close to the ECB’s shadow council told me now might be a good time to stock up on a little extra food – just in case we have a few unscheduled bank holidays. |