BRUSSELS (MNI) – European Union finance ministers have endorsed the
UK’s new budget set out by the country’s coalition government, UK
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said on Tuesday.
“The council [of EU finance ministers] endorsed the UK budget,”
Osborne told reporters at a press conference after the meeting.
“I regard that as an important endorsement and we look forward to
the imminent report on the UK economy by the OECD,” he said.
Osborne said that EU bank stress testing “needs to be seen as
credible; the market needs to feel, the public needs to feel, that…
there’s been an appropriate stress tested,” he said.
Then, “EU member states must have plans in place” to backstop banks
if necessary, he said.
“We need to be able to stand behind them,” he said.
–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com
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