China, EU urged to take the lead for financial overhaul

PARIS: China and Europe should "take the historic lead" and accelerate the restructuring of the global financial system, says a prominent European politician.

Saying that the international community had achieved little in its quest to remove excessive speculation and greed from the financial sector in the year since the start of the global financial crisis, former French Prime Minister and European Parliament member Michel Rocard called on China and Europe to grab the initiative.

He said the countries could take steps to regulate the global financial system, paving the way for the US to join the process at a later date.