EU continues its rich-poor divide

The European Union continued its wary face off over the rich-poor divide, as Eurozone ministers refused to dilute the conditions and waiting period for states to join the Euro, despite calls from Hungary that the 2 year waiting period should be waived, a proposal supported by the EBRD.

At the same time, UK���s chancellor Alistair Darling reiterated that west European countries must help their poorer Eastern neighbours, in order to prevent the danger of whole countries going under. Mr Darling said that central and eastern European economies face a 2009 funding shortfall of $100 billion - and called for additional support through the IMF.

Meanwhile, Romania, one of the poorer EU states, lined up to receive Euro 20 billion($25.3 bn) as a rescue package from the IMF, the negotiations for which are expected to go through this week. The EU is expected to back the IMF���s call to double its crisis funds to $500 billion ahead of the G20 summit.