EU leaders yesterday agreed on a set of measures to reform financial markets as the international crisis rattles the globe.
The reforms should be implemented in 100 days following which another summit will be held to assess the results, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is currently at the helm of the EU, said.
The reforms include more supervision on hedge funds, a reformed monitoring role for the International Monetary Fund and the registration of international credit rating agencies. The EU leaders also agreed to establish codes of conduct to avoid excessive risk taking in the financial sector, including the area of systems of remuneration and to give the IMF the initial responsibility of recommending the measures needed to restore confidence and stability.
In yet another informal EU summit, called by Mr Sarkozy in Brussels in the space of three weeks, the 27 EU member states agreed on a set of global financial and economic reforms to be presented at next week's Washington global summit on tackling the financial crises.
"Malta agreed on these principles, particularly on more regulation, in order to avoid another financial crisis in the future," Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said following an extended four-hour long working lunch.
"We need more rules and an early warning system so that what happened won't be repeated. The EU must be better prepared to deal with such situations and all EU leaders are agreeing to take the necessary action."
Dr Gonzi said that following the discussions and the decisions to be taken next week in Washington, the European Commission would prepare a detailed plan of action to be implemented by member states as soon as possible.
The final details of the plan will be possibly agreed at the next EU summit meeting, scheduled for mid-December.
Dr Gonzi said the euro area "is shielding Malta from the worst financial crisis to hit the global economy in decades".
"The fact that we are part of this strong monetary system is one of the main reasons why Malta is not being severely hit by the financial crisis. But we need to keep on the lookout because our exports and tourism markets still depend on the global economic climate," he said.
Mr Sarkozy said that EU countries agreed on the need for a "different, entrepreneurial capitalism".
European Commission President Josè Manuel Barroso insisted that the European agenda does not amount to interventionism. "We are not for interventionism. We are for a good performance of the markets. We are for the social economy of the markets," he said.