Alistair Darling urges EU to help out poorer economies

The wealthier nations of the EU must step in to prevent their less well off neighbours from going bust, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, has warned.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of European Union finance ministers, Mr Darling warned that the financial crisis facing some Eastern members was so serious that entire economies were in danger of going under.

And he insisted that it was imperative for nations including as the UK to come forward to help, despite the growing recession and financial difficulties battering our own economy.
Asked how Britain could afford to help other nations when it was itself in crisis, Mr Darling told Radio 4's Today programme: "If we don't sort these problems out and try to resolve them, it will affect us, because our well-being, our wealth as a country, depends on the health of Europe, it depends on the health of the emerging countries in South America and India and China and so on.

"We are all in this together... All politics are global now and that is why we need to take action."

Mr Darling warned that central and eastern European economies faced a 2009 funding shortfall of $100 billion - around £72 billion - and called on the G20 group of leading economies to agree additional support via the IMF.

Finance ministers from the G20 are due to arrive in London at the weekend for talks, while heads of government will gather under Gordon Brown's chairmanship next month.

Mr Darling added: "There is no doubt that the present situation is uncertain. There is a lot of turbulence out there, as people can see, but I am very clear that yes we can play our part in supporting the economy, we can help restore the banking system so that it starts functioning effectively again.

"But we must, must, must act together. That's why today's meeting in Brussels is important. That's why the G20 meeting is very, very important. Acting together will make a real difference.

"One of the things we are discussing at the G20 meeting this weekend is how do we help each other, because if we do that then this downturn will be a lot less painful than would otherwise be the case."

Beyond central and eastern Europe, the countries most vulnerable to drying up of international credit are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank has estimated that 129 developing countries are facing a financing shortfall of between $270 and $700 billion.

The Chancellor urged his EU counterparts to step support for developing nations, but said that assistance must first go towards hard-hit central and eastern European countries in order to stop the entire Union from getting into serious financial trouble.