Brussels - Globalization and the recent turmoil on the
financial markets were among the top items on the economic agenda of
European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Friday.
'We'll sign today a declaration on globalization which will be
Europe reaching out to the rest of the world to meet all the
challenges: economic development, environmental security and
prosperity for the future,' Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown
said on his arrival at the European Council building in Brussels.
The national leaders and foreign ministers of the EU's 27 member
states were later expected to sign a joint declaration on
globalization setting out the EU's common position on global issues.
'We aim at shaping globalization in the interests of all our
citizens ... For this even the enlarged Union cannot act alone,' the
draft of their declaration states.
In the draft, member states pledge to strengthen economic reforms
in their own markets, lobby for international commitments to tackle
climate change, work on improving the transparency of global
financial markets, support democracy and development and agree on a
common strategy to deal with migration.
They will also 'press for increasingly open (global) markets which
should lead to reciprocal benefits,' the draft adds.
In recent months the EU has called for fair access to markets such
as China and Russia, which are seen as being distorted by political
measures.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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