"AT THE end of the day, Europe, united Europe, did more than the US in terms of the amounts committed," French president Nicolas Sarkozy proudly told journalists yesterday.
In the aftermath of Sunday night's agreement on a concerted European financial bailout plan, the governments of France, Germany, Spain and Austria yesterday committed €1.1 trillion to guarantee bank loans and take stakes in lenders - considerably more than the $700 billion (€517.8 billion) Paulson plan.
Stock markets around the world rose significantly. The Paris Bourse gained a record 11.2 per cent yesterday. The European rescue plan started last Friday, when the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Zapatero, suggested over lunch with Sarkozy that he should convene an emergency meeting of the euro zone.
By mid-afternoon, ambassadors from the other 14 euro zone countries were scrapping their plans for the weekend. The Élysée sent out formal invitations that evening.
The first draft of the Declaration on a Concerted European Action Plan of the Euro Area Countries was sent to the diplomatic advisers of euro zone heads of state and government on Saturday afternoon. Euro zone member states were given until 9pm on Saturday to respond to the French draft. The final declaration is approximately 75 per cent as initially written by the French.
From the outset, there was a consensus that the euro zone had to perform better than the G7. There was never a question of attempting to establish a common European fund, because Germany would not have accepted it.
The leaders who met on Sunday night knew they were condemned to succeed. "You couldn't call the meeting without an outcome; it would have had a disastrous impact on markets," said a participant. The meeting was "ambitious, well focused, concrete."
The 15 heads of state and government, the commission president José Manuel Barroso and ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, sat around an oval table. Their advisers were in the room, but barely intervened. "Sarkozy made it clear he wanted comments on the draft only. There were no time limits, and no one was interrupted . . . But by European standards, people were unusually disciplined in their interventions," the participant said.
In his speech announcing the French plan yesterday, Sarkozy said: "The biggest risk at present would be not to show audacity." He has won high marks from his European counterparts for taking the gamble of convening the summit within 48 hours of Zapatero's suggestion, knowing how high expectations were.
"It's quite a gamble. He pulled it off," said a diplomat.
Though the French are making dire predictions about the upcoming Czech presidency, there is nonetheless "a general feeling that Europe is stepping up to the plate", the diplomat continued. "There's a kind of purposeful feel about the union at the moment."
