Belgium's Verhofstadt raps 4 states' meet on markets

VALLETTA (Reuters) - Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said on Saturday Europe must tackle its economic problems together, to avoid meetings of select groups like the ones planned this month by Britain, Germany, France and Italy.

Speaking at a ceremony to celebrate Malta's adoption of the euro, Verhofstadt said the euro zone should take joint action to tackle rising inflation.

"What happens otherwise?" he asked rhetorically. "What is happening now? Four big countries of the Union gather together. A group of big member states want to discuss the financial situation with possible consequences for the entire Union."

Verhofstadt said the problem of inflation in the euro zone, which was stable in December at a six-and-a-half year high of 3.1 percent, "proves more than ever that the euro zone and the European Union need socio-economic governance".

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday that Brown will meet the leaders of Germany, France and Italy in London on January 29 to discuss global financial market turbulence.

Those talks will be preceded by a meeting of the four countries' finance ministers, expected to discuss the same issues, in Paris on January 17, a French finance ministry spokesman said.

Verhofstadt's comments threw an isolated note of controversy into the Maltese celebrations, attended by top EU officials, prime ministers and central bank governors from around Europe.

"The euro zone has a currency, a strong currency, and has to be able to outline a corresponding policy," Verhofstadt said. "It is only by cooperation and by outlining an economic policy that we can provide an answer to the challenges we face today."

Earlier on Saturday European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters "the governance of the euro area should be reinforced."

But, in comments which highlighted divisions on the issue around Europe, Dutch European Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans said calls for "economic governance" were often disguised attempts to introduce less rigorous fiscal and economic policies, and should be opposed.

"To be very honest with you, too often in the past economic governance meant watering down the criteria (on euro entry, budget discipline and the ECB inflation target), this is not something that any Dutch government would support," he told Reuters in an interview.

Timmermans said he disagreed with the views expressed at the same event by French European Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet, who called for more coordination in the euro zone "to discuss the differences in inflation between different countries ... and to see if the (ECB's) inflation target is appropriate."

(editing by Tim Pearce)