EU FMs reaffirm commitment to coordinated response to financial crisis

BRUSSELS, Feb. 23 (Chinese media) -- European Union (EU)

foreign ministers reaffirmed on Monday their nations' commitment to acting

together in a "coordinated and cooperative manner" to seek a common response to

the current economic and financial crisis.

"There is no doubt it is a serious financial crisis,

which requires this coordinated and common response," said Czech Deputy Prime

Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, at a

press conference following the first-day talks of the ministers' two-day meeting

in Brussels.

The meeting focused on the preparation of the March 1

informal EU summit, and the regular spring EU summit on March 19 and 20.

The foreign ministers' meeting came after major EU

nations agreed on Sunday on concrete measures to enforce supervision on the

world financial markets.

At a meeting in Berlin, leaders and finance ministers

from Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and the

Czech Republic agreed that all financial markets, products and participants,

including hedge funds and credit rating agencies, should be put under tougher

supervision or regulation, and called for tougher sanction mechanisms against

tax havens and "uncooperative" financial centers.

The Berlin meeting was aimed at forging a common EU

position before the April 2 G20 financial summit in London.

According to Vondra, the ministers discussed the EU's

recovery plan and projects to be realized in the next few years with a view to

boosting the economy, as well as those in the area of energy security in the

light of this winter's gas crisis.

About the March 19-20 EU summit, Vondra said it will

mainly focus on three key issues.

The most important topic will be the financial and

economic situation, which demands the EU look for both short-term measures and

long-term measures stemming from the Lisbon Strategy, said Vondra adding that

the spring summit will try to agree on the mandate of the EU side for the G20

summit on April 2.

The second issue will be energy security and climate

change, and the third will be related to external relations, said Vondra.

Vondra said the EU summit on March 19-20 will aim to

adopt the Eastern Partnership agreement proposed by the European Commission late

last year.

Earlier reports have said that the EU leaders are

planning to meet in Prague, the Czech Republic, on May 7 to launch the Eastern

Partnership, an initiative designed to draw six post-Soviet states-- Armenia,

Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine -- closer to the EU.