国际英语新闻：Netherlands proposes European rescue funds for banks

BRUSSELS, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands is calling on all European Union (EU) members to put aside 3 percent of their gross national product in a joint response to the financial crisis, Radio Netherlands reported on Thursday.

    The Netherlands proposes that all EU members reserve emergency funds for the rescue of crippled financial institutions.

    Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is scheduled to travel to France on Thursday to discuss the proposal with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the EU rotating presidency, the report said.

    If adopted, the plan could gather a total of 350 billion euros (483 billion U.S. dollars), which the Netherlands believes would be enough to prevent the collapse of financial institutions across Europe.

    Under the plan, member states could decide by themselves how the money should be spent.

    The emergency funds can be used to help banks or to guarantee savings in a coordinated manner, the Netherlands says.

    To placate skeptics of a centralized approach to the funds, Balkenende is expected to stress that the national governments would have the final say on the use of the funds instead of the European Union, while the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, can play a coordinating role.

    According to Dutch daily Financieele Dagblad, the French are interested in the Netherlands' proposal. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposes a joint EU rescue fund.

    The Hague put forward the plan following the partial nationalization of Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance group Fortis early Monday. The Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments jointly injected 11.2 billion euros into the biggest bank and private employer in Belgium.

    A day later, Belgium, France and Luxembourg went to the aid of French-Belgian bank Dexia.

    The Netherlands wants a joint approach to avoid a situation where each country mainly tries to protect its own national interests, even if that has negative consequences elsewhere, Financieele Dagblad reported.

    The Irish government's move to guarantee the savings at six Irish banks but not those in foreign banks in the country has prompted concerns about a flurry of savings withdrawals from British banks.

    A group of 10 leading European economists on Wednesday published an open letter, calling on EU government leaders to launch a coordinated, Europe-wide recapitalization of the financial sector, either by buying shares in the banks or by converting debt into shares.

    The economists warned that the current "piecemeal approach" of rescuing individual banks with national money is leading to "the Balkanization of the European banking sector."