Did Brown block huge bail-out?
President Sarkozy is a man who likes to get his ducks in a row. That is why details of the emergency summit on the economy are still so very hazy. He wants the leaders of Britain, Italy, Germany, the Commission and the European Central Bank to join him in Paris this weekend. But there's no point in holding such a high-profile summit just to chat. It has to come up with a concrete plan of action or it looks worse than nothing.
Although they are now denying it, there was a paper written by a French civil servant proposing a 300bn-euro bail-out fund. Gordon Brown didn't like it, and perhaps more importantly neither did German leader Angela Merkel. Downing Street prefers the case-by-case, nation-by-nation solutions that have been happening so far. Other Sarkozy ideas such as a holiday from the EU's rules against state aid are scarcely more popular. It's the frequent EU dilemma: when is the lowest common denominator so low that it's worthless?
I’m Mark Mardell, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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