Britain Urges European Leaders to Act on Banking Accord
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A meeting of European Union finance ministers turned a little unruly late Wednesday when George Osborne, Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, accused his counterparts of making him look like an “idiot” because he pushed for approval of stricter banking laws, the International Herald Tribune reported. Earlier in the day, Mr. Osborne challenged his fellow European finance ministers to carry out an international accord on raising capital requirements for banks to fortify them against a future crisis or face a hostile reaction from financial markets. But after 10 hours of talks, a testy Mr. Osborne said that a deal on the table was inadequate because it failed to take into account his concerns and would subject Europe, and him, to ridicule at a time when the region was struggling to emerge from its debt crisis. Mr. Osborne insisted that he was seeking rules that would be acceptable to regulators and authorities around the world including Jean-Claude Trichet, the former president of the European Central Bank, and his successor, Mario Draghi. “I will not be painted as somehow being anti-European or demanding something especially for London,” Mr. Osborne said. Read more. (Subscription required.)