LONDON (MNI) – David Cameron, the U.K.’s newly installed Prime
Minister and Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime minister, say the time has
come for the EU to stop talking and start taking action.

Writing in the Financial Times Wednesday, the two men say it is
time for action on debt, on fixing the banks, on creating the conditions
for growth and on promoting free trade.

Cameron and Reinfeldt say that they are in agreement that there are
four clear steps we need to take to ensure that Europe thrives and
prospers.

Writing a joint op-ed piece in the paper, the prime ministers say
the continent needs “to get a grip on our debts.”

Cameron and Reinfeldt say there are difficult decisions to make,
but it is “essential governments cut back on unnecessary spending. We
have to accept there are things we can no longer afford.”

But the two prime ministers say it is not simply enough to rein in
the deficits. Countries across Europe need fundamentally to change the
way they deal with public finances, so that debt crises of this
magnitude can never happen again.

This, they says means that the stability pact must be taken
seriously, not that there must be “better safeguards against member
states spending and borrowing too much”.

Secondly, Cameron and Reinfeldt say there is a need to fix Europe’s
financial sector, with banks more open about what they do and to “hold
more money back in the good years” so, they do not need taxpayers to
bail them out when things get tough.

They add the EU should also lead the way in driving international
movement towards a new levy on financial institutions, “similar to that
which Sweden has put in place.”

Together, they say the third step is creating the conditions for
growth. Europe has huge advantages – some of the world’s most skilled
workers, centres of technological brilliance and the world’s largest
single market. But they note deep structural problems that need
addressing.

The fourth step to a prosperous Europe, Cameron and Reinfeldt says,
is to fight protectionism, agreeing that “we must protect the single
market – the cornerstone of Europe’s economic success – by holding to
the rules on state subsidies and competition policy.

–London bureau: +4420 862 7492; email: ukeditorial@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$BDS$,MT$$$$,M$$FX$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$]