The need for a European emergency fund

In an opinion piece for the daily Le Monde, the Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme stresses the need for a European emergency fund: "At the end of September Belgium's financial sector was rocked by serious turmoil. Fortis, the country's leading bank, Dexia, its third-largest bank, and an insurance company were all hit by the fallout from the international financial crisis. ... In these moments of danger in which major banks were threatened with bankruptcy we felt an absolute need for European cooperation. ... We must consider setting up a European emergency fund that could be used to purchase illiquid securities, recapitalise banks and guarantee loans between banks. ... Europe is gradually becoming the sole European regulator. The current cooperation between national supervisory authorities, even if it has ... become stronger thanks to monthly meetings, is just an initial phase in this long process that should culminate in a supervisory system that is at the same time pan-European and decentralised."

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