Europe looks set for a collision course with the US over solutions to the global economic crisis, as Germany and France jointly called Today for greater regulation of financial markets, according to dpa. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented a united front at talks in Berlin, opposing US demands for increased economic stimulus to tackle the crisis. "We represent entirely the same position," Merkel said at the bilateral summit meeting, adding that economic rescue packages, "can under no circumstances replace the necessary regulation" of the financial markets. Sarkozy fell into step with Merkel. "The problem is not spending more money, but putting in place financial systems of regulation," he said at a joint press conference. The joint message stands in contrast to US demands for more government involvement to halt the global economic slide. US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that greater government stimulus would be a top US priority at the Group of 20 (G20) gathering of world leading economies in London next month. The French and German leaders said they were espousing the priorities agreed upon at a meeting of the European members of the G20 in Berlin last month. This position, they said, would be further reinforced when EU leaders meet in Brussels at the end of next week, ahead of April's G20 summit in London.
