SMF reports European Union governments vowed to conquer the financial crisis and recession gripping their economies by extending help to beleaguered eastern European states on a country-by-country basis and respecting the rules of the single European market.
The fragility of the financial systems in several eastern European countries dominated an emergency summit in Brussels, where leaders of the 27-nation bloc committed themselves to "getting the real economy back on track by making the maximum possible use of the single market, which is the engine for recovery".
While recognizing the need to stop financial contagion spreading from east to west, the leaders rejected an appeal from Hungary for a €180 bln aid program to recapitalize the banking systems of central and eastern Europe and reschedule foreign currency debt.
"More, of course, will be done, but on a case by case basis, not on a category basis. In the new member-states there are different situations," Jose? Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, told reporters after the summit.