The President of the European Commission hailed the 'spirit of convergence' as EU member states agreed a package of measures to help solve the global economic crisis ahead of next month's G20 Summit in London on 2 April.

The 27 government leaders arrived at a unanimous agreement on plans to strengthen financial regulation, restore economic growth and functioning credit markets and provide an extra €100bn to fund rescues of fragile EU states and developing countries.

‘Europe is showing it's up to the challenge. We have agreed very concrete lines for the G20 Summit in London,' Barroso said, describing the meeting as being held in the 'spirit of convergence and the spirit of unity and confidence'.

'We need a coordinated fiscal stimulus and reform of the financial markets because without the stimulus you won’t have that recovery, and without reform of financial markets, it won’t be sustainable.'

Lord Malloch-Brown, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for the G20, said the idea of a difference between EU member states over the need for more stimulus versus tighter regulation had been 'blown up' by the media. 'The fact is, every country stimulating its economy, but they’re all starting from different places,' he said in Brussels.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will chair the London Summit, said that Europe had 'laid foundations' for London Summit. 'The decisions we have made today and the extra money released will help ensure we will return the world economy to growth at the nearest possible opportunity.'

He said EU leaders had agreed on the need to take action to support their own economies through the current crisis. 'We have also agreed on the importance of doing what is necessary to restore jobs and growth by the fiscal actions we take,' he said.

After their two-day meeting on 19 and 20 March, the European Council published what it called 'agreed language with a view to the G20 Summit in London', which included 24 key points.

The agreement included:

• Continued international coordination and swift implementation of fiscal stimulus measures;
• Keeping markets open and avoiding all forms of protectionism;
• Increase 'very substantially' IMF resources for emergency bailouts. The EU has agreed a temporary loan of €75bn;
• Doubled to €50bn the amount of emergency funding available to help fragile EU members;
• Reform of the governance of international financial institutions and making the process of selection of top management posts 'more transparent and merit-based';
• Make macro-prudential supervision a standard part of financial sector oversight;
• Subject credit ratings agencies to proper regulation;
• Ensure appropriate regulation of all financial markets, products and participants that may present a systemic risk, including hedge funds and private equity funds;
• Protect the financial system from ‘non-transparent, non-cooperative jurisdictions including offshore centres’; and
• Adopt common principles on corporate governance and remuneration practices to prevent compensation schemes that 'incentivise excessive risk-taking'.
  

The Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that European leaders had reached a 'common, united position'. He said: 'There was unanimous support for our agreed text on the G20.'

Meanwhile Lord Malloch-Brown, speaking at the Brussels Forum 2009 event, said the media had built a 'false dichotomy' between countries that favoured further stimulus measures over those that wanted tighter regulation.

'I think the differences are in part definitional, but at times like this, inevitably as the press moves towards 2 April, they are blown up as more than that,' he said. 'The Finance Ministers made it clear in the G20 preparation meeting last weekend that everybody would do what it takes, and the IMF has set a broad global benchmark of 2% this year, 2% next year.'

He said that when you included automatic stabilisers, such as 'the welfare payments we make as unemployment roles grow, we're on track. So in a sense, it’s a false dichotomy which is being set up.'

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund said the EU's decision to give more resources to the IMF was a signal that the international community was ready to 'provide strong backing to emerging markets that will strengthen their resiliency against financial market turmoil.'

'This leadership from the European Union, like the one already demonstrated by the Government of Japan, is an important step toward stabilising the global financial system during this period of unprecedented stress.'