European policymakers yesterday feuded over how to protect Europe's financial system from the global credit crisis as French officials floated the idea of a common rescue fund to deal with bank failures.
Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, suggested a European fund “to support the financial sector”. However, the idea of a fund – which some European officials said could have been as large as €300bn ($429bn) – was immediately rejected by Germany and, by last night, France was rowing back. Britain is also sceptical about the idea of a pan-European fund.
French officials said France was not promoting a specific plan, but the idea of a common pool would be discussed among other ideas at a Paris meeting of European leaders on Saturday.