EU sets up hotline for worried finance ministers
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Finance ministers facing market meltdown have a new number to call day or night for help as part of European Union efforts to avoid ill-thought responses that could upset neighboring states and break the bloc's rules.
EU leaders last week agreed to set up a financial crisis unit as they apply lessons learnt from the worst market crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The need to speed up and improve coordination among authorities in times of crisis is a key aim.
"The financial crisis unit is based on a warning device that sets off a conference call among officials... with a short advance warning of one hour and at any time," said an EU presidency document setting out the new system.
Initial reactions by EU states to the financial market crisis lacked coordination, such as Ireland's decision to guarantee bank deposits, triggering inflows of savings from Britain and spawning copycat actions in Greece and Germany.
The unit is being set up this week and will be organized by the secretariat of the Council of EU states, the document obtained by Reuters said.
"The secretariat is tasked with distributing a dedicated telephone number open seven days a week, 24 hours a day," the document said without listing the new number.
The unit comprises representatives of the Council, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the 15-nation Eurogroup.
A call to the unit will lead to a conference call with the member state concerned.
The unit's role is to:
-- ensure a speedy response to a member state;
-- make a preliminary assessment of measures considered;
-- inform other EU states;
-- enable good coordination of actions being undertaken.
The information gathered from the call would be distributed to central bankers via the ECB and EU states.
"The unit suggests, where measures are foreseen, the convening of competent authorities to take the necessary decisions," the document said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Andy Bruce)
