Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says European leaders are to look at upfront release of money to help small firms cope with the global financial crisis. It came after the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Italy had staged a mini-summit in Paris on world problems. Mr Brown earlier said he wanted early release of 15bn euros (£12bn; $21bn) from a 30bn euros European Investment Bank (EIB) fund to help small firms. Afterwards he said: "We are now asking to frontload all 25bn [pounds] now." The leaders issued a 19 point document at the end of their discussions, dealing with aspects of their meeting, including the EIB money. The document said: "It is... important to ensure that we take urgent action to address the impact of the financial crisis on our economies. "Credit to the economy should be maintained. In this regard, we welcome the decision of the European Investment Bank to mobilize 30 billions euros of support for European small and medium size enterprises as a satisfactory first step and urge the bank to frontload this effort." Europe's biggest economies also promised to work together to support financial institutions. However, they stopped short of forming a joint bail-out fund like that the $700bn earmarked to rescue the US financial sector. The meeting was called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently also holds the EU presidency. As well as the four national leaders the head of the European Central Bank and the President of the European Commission attended the summit. Delegates looked at how they could encourage confidence by strengthening co-operation within Europe and ensuring the financial markets function properly in the future. We're doing everything that we can to ensure the security and stability that families and businesses need

Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Europe agrees bank crisis action Speaking at 10 Downing Street before his departure for Paris, Mr Brown proposed "cleaning up the system" which he claimed had fallen prey to "irresponsibility". This was something that was echoed by President Sarkozy in the post-summit news conference, who said there were plans to "rebuild the financial system" and it was announced a college of regulators will be set up. Edge of Abyss' All the European leaders said they were pleased with the progress made at the meeting but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "not satisfied" with Ireland's unlimited guarantee on bank deposits, saying all countries should have a consistent approach. The meeting of leaders issued a 19 point statement afterwards However, Gordon Brown said he remained confident that the small business fund, would assure liquidity, which would in turn preserve economic confidence and stability. The summit agreed the that working together was crucial to beating the credit crunch which saw the world - as French Prime Minister Francois Fillon described it - as being "on the edge of the abyss". Mr Brown said: "We must do more to co-ordinate our response in times of crisis." He added: "I believe that the co-ordination that we are showing across Europe will now be repeated by the international meetings that we are proposing that will involve all the major countries of the world."



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