国际英语新闻：EU leaders hold crisis talks as concern mounts over Eastern European economies

BRUSSELS, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- European Union leaders meet Sunday for emergency talks as the economic crisis places strains on two key tenants of EU policy -- open trade within the 27 nationbloc and solidarity between its rich and poor members.

    The summit was called by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country's debut EU presidency comes as the bloc struggles to cope with the worst economic crisis in decades. The afternoon meeting is designed to forge a united European position ahead of the summit of leaders from the G-20 group of leading economic powers scheduled for April 2 in London.

    Topolanek wants his counterparts from the other EU nations to commit to maintain open markets and reject growing calls for protectionist measures to defend domestic industry in the face of the world economic slump.

    "European integrity and solidarity are now undergoing a severe trial," Topolanek wrote in Friday's Financial Times. "A system of subsidies and illegitimate loans will not bear the much-desired fruit, but rather grapes of wrath."

    The Czechs have been particularly incensed by French plans to offer public aid to carmakers Renault and Peugeot-Citroen on condition that they commit to not laying off French workers -- a condition seen as threatening jobs of workers in factories owned by the French automakers in Eastern Europe.

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy added to easterners' concern with recent televised comments that appeared to directly criticize the French companies for investing in the Czech Republic and other nations where costs are lower than in France.

    Topolanek hopes the summit will restate governments' commitments to core values including the single European market and economic solidarity.

    Leaders are also expected to consider practical measures such as increased financial sector regulation and common standards for dealing with "toxic" bank assets, although firm decision are unlikely until the union's next regular summit on March 19.

    All European nations have been hit by the economic crisis with the bloc's economy as a whole scheduled to contract by 1.8 percent this year, unemployment rising to 7.6 percent, the highest level in over two years.

    For weeks, news bulletins across Europe have been opening with stories of the latest lay offs or high-profile bankruptcies. To stimulate activity and slow job losses, EU leaders are pumping nearly 500 billion euros (about 632.2 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.3 percent of the bloc's gross domestic product, into the economy, on top of the 300 billion euros used to recapitalize banks to avoid a financial meltdown and 2.5 trillion euros in guarantees to encourage interbank lending.

    Despite that, market pressure has been mounting particularly on the smaller economies of Eastern Europe. The EU, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions have already had to offer in with a 25 billion U.S. dollars rescue plan for Hungary and 10.5 billion dollars for Latvia. On Thursday, three international financial institutions stepped in with a 24.5 billion euros package for Eastern Europe.

    Going into Sunday's summit, some are calling for more. Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann is seeking a 150-billion-euro fund to shore up the eastern European banking system -- a call that reflects the vulnerability of Austrian banks who have invested heavily in the country's eastern neighbors.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany has also called for 180 billion euros to support the eastern economies. Across the Atlantic too there is mounting concern that an economic collapse in Eastern Europe could trigger instability and weaken democratic gains in nations that have been staunch U.S. allies since they emerged from Soviet control 20 years ago.

    "If Western nations do not act quickly to address the snowballing financial crisis that is brewing from Latvia to Hungary, we risk replacing an era of promise and progress in Eastern Europe with one of soaring unemployment, instability and a weakening of the influence and ideals we have spent decades building," John Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote Friday in the Wall Street Journal.

    EU officials have bristled at the suggestion that they have not done enough to support the bloc's eastern members. They insist the EU is ready to intervene to shore up faltering EU economies, and also non-EU nations such as Serbia or Ukraine when and if it becomes necessary.

    The European Commission and nations such as Germany have rejected the Austro-Hungarian calls or special funds for the region, saying that the needs of each nation are different and must be treated on an individual basis.

    Some other eastern European nations agree and have distanced themselves from the Hungarians' appeal. Although their currencies have taken a battering as investors seek safer havens like the dollar or euro, some eastern nations such as Poland or the Czech Republic have finances in better shape than some Western EU members and they are anxious to avoid the impression that the whole region risks imploding.

    "We have to fix those problems case by case rather creating the impression that Eastern Europe is one black hole," Alexandr Vondra, the Czech vice-premier for European affairs said in Prague last week.

    Leaders from nine Eastern European nations are scheduled to meet Monday morning ahead of the full EU summit -- an unusual move that has itself been criticized for underscoring divisions within the union. Poland and others could use the summit to call for a speeding up procedures for joining the euro currency bloc.

    The Polish zloty, Hungarian forint and other Eastern European currencies have fallen by over a third against the euro in recent months, adding to the countries' economic woes.

    Many believe the economic meltdowns in Iceland and Latvia could have been avoided if the small nations had the protection of a big currency like the euro. However, although Slovenia and Slovakia recently joined the euro-zone, the EU's other Eastern members fall short of the euro membership requirements of low inflation, deficit and debt.

    While there is no chance Germany and other euro-zone nations will risk destabilizing the shared currency by relaxing the entry requirements, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is hoping they will make it easier for new members to join the so-called "Exchange Rate Mechanism" which ties currencies to the euro around a fixed rate in preparation for full membership. Nations hoping to join the euro must place their currencies in the system for two-years before they can enter the currency bloc. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.79089 euros)