EU leaders on Friday will press for a doubling of the International Monetary Fund's budget to $500 billion and an overhaul of global financial institutions to ward off future crises, according to AP. Better regulation, but no more stimulus _ that was the position the 27-nation bloc was expected to finalize Friday going into a key meeting of the Group of 20 leading industrialized and developing countries in London on April 2, which is meant to find antidotes to the worsening downturn. The specter of protectionism threatened to overshadow the EU leaders' efforts for a common front at the G-20, however, as France's Renault SA announced it would move excess production from a car plant in Slovenia to a French site and create 400 French jobs in the process. The leaders, in a draft statement expected to be issued at the end of their Friday talks, said that coordinating international action was key to promoting «a swift return to sustainable economic growth,» even if it meant sharing more power with emerging economic powers like China, India and Brazil at international organizations like the IMF. The government heads were expected to jointly call for an overhaul of financial institutions to prevent future credit and economic crises. The statement says the G-20 gathering in London «has a crucial role to play in reshaping the global financial system» and rebuilding confidence. «The banks will not provide loans without trust and people will not spend their money without it,» said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who was chairing the talks. «It means more transparency, regulation and even new rules, there should be a clear plan,» said Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
