German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Saturday the United States and Britain of blocking her government's previous efforts to tighten the controls of financialmarkets.
According to German radio Deutsche Welle, Merkel made the remarks when speaking to a rally in Linz of Austria on Saturday, where she was campaigning on behalf of the Austrian conservative People's Party (OeVP).
Merkel said her government had tried in vain to win G8 support last year for tighter regulation of hedge funds and financial oversight of capital markets, hinting that she felt vindicated in her stance as a financial disaster unfolded on Wall Street in recent days.
"It was said for a long time 'Let the markets take care of themselves' and that there is 'no need for more transparency'," Merkel told the rally.
"Today we are a step further because even America and Britain are saying 'Yes, we need more transparency, we need better standards for the ratings agencies'," Merkel was quoted as saying.
In a separate interview with a Munich newspaper, Muenchner Merkur, to be published on Monday, Merkel criticized the United States and British governments for obstructing Germany's efforts in the first half of 2007 to bring greater transparency to the markets.
"I criticize the perception that the financial markets have of themselves," she told the paper. "Alas, they have opposed for too long the introduction of rules with the backing of the British andAmerican governments," she said.
Merkel said when Germany headed the G8 group of industrialized nations last year, it had advocated greater transparency in international financial transactions, especially in hedge funds.
She said a single nation like Germany could do little by itselfto fix the international financial system.
"That's why I and Finance Minister Steinbrueck insisted back in2007 during the German presidency of the Group of Eight that we need more rules for greater transparency in international money dealing, with the ratings agencies and with the hedge funds," she was quoted as saying.
"Some progress was made at the time, but it was not adequately supported by the United States and Britain," she said.
On Sept. 14, the fourth largest U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings announced that it went bankruptcy, triggering worldwide financial turmoil including Germany, the biggest economyof Europe.
(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2008)
