Better Financial Regulation

The heads of four major European Union member states walk out of the British Foreign Ministry building in London Tuesday after a summit. In a joint statement released after the meeting, they agreed to the need to strengthen “national regulatory and supervisory frameworks” and for global financial institutions and rating agencies to “provide better information to customers.” Shown from the left are French President Nicolas Sarkozy; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; and outgoing Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is in the back row.