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EU vows to shield economy from financial fallout
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-16 22:59

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown holds a news conference at the end of a two-day EU summit in Brussels October 16, 2008. [Agencies] 

The heads of the European Central Bank, the EU presidency, the executive European Commission and the Eurogroup of 15 countries that share the euro currency will all take part in the financial crisis management cell.

Global markets continued to fall on Thursday despite the expressed willingness of authorities around the world to take further action to support banks in trouble.

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Sarkozy attributed the slump to heavily indebted hedge funds selling off assets as well as to investors' concerns about poor economic indicators.

Brown joined Sarkozy's call for the global summit to rebuild the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the keystone of global market regulation.

The summit statement said the 27 EU leaders unanimously endorsed a concerted 2.2-trillion euro ($3 trillion) euro zone rescue plan for banks agreed in Paris on Sunday.