HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : EU agrees financial reform [October 2008]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 16 October 2008.

The EU has agreed to push ahead with urgent reform of the financial system based on the principles of transparency, sound banking, responsibility, integrity and global governance, the PM has said.

Speaking to journalists at the close of the EU Council in Brussels, Mr Brown said that reform was necessary not only to stop a crisis from recurring but also to end the current one. An early warning system should be established through reform of the IMF and the Financial Stability Forum and executives’ pay should no longer contain reward for “excesses and irresponsibility”.

The PM also said that he hoped to see the falling price of oil reflected at the pump, adding that there is still “too much variation in price across our country”. EU leaders had identified dependency on oil as another key issue to be addressed during the Council meeting, he said.