The European Union agreed on Tuesday to speed up its drive to cut off funding for terrorist groups after bombs killed over 50 people in London last week. British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said he was also putting on the agenda of International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings this autumn the issue of sanctions against countries that did not act against terror financing, Reuters reported. Brown said after chairing a meeting of EU finance ministers the 25-nation bloc was united in its desire to destroy the monetary lifelines used by groups accused of terrorism. "Just as there will be no safe haven for those who perpetrate terrorism, there will be no hiding place for those who finance terrorism," he told a news conference. "Across Europe, we will act as one to send a message to terrorism ... Terrorism will always be defeated by democracy." The EU had already adopted an action plan to combat money laundering and banking secrecy that help the illegal moving of money following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and the Madrid bomb blasts in March 2004. --More 2307 Local Time 2007 GMT
