Sarkozy throws cold water on G20 draft deal

Bloomberg

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The comments highlight divisions among global political leaders ahead of the G20 summit today in London.

"In the current state of things, the proposals don’t suit France or Germany," Sarkozy said on Europe 1 radio yesterday. "No agreement is secured. I know by experience that we will need to fight until the last minute."

The deepening global slump has split governments over how much they need to spend to reverse the tailspin. Germany and France have led a European Union response that the 400 billion euros ($529 billion) it has already approved should be enough and any more would drive debt too high. Aso is preparing his third stimulus plan.

"There are countries that understand the importance of fiscal mobilization, and there are ... others that do not - which is why ... Germany has come up with their views," Aso told the Financial Times in an interview yesterday.

German officials said G20 leaders are still at odds over the scope of rules for hedge funds and the public naming of tax havens. "There’s a common view that hedge funds should be subject to regulation," Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen said Tuesday. "The question is: What does that mean?"

Sarkozy said yesterday it would be "unacceptable" not to have concrete decisions about tax havens implemented "in days or a few weeks" after the summit.

His comments came a day after his finance minister, Christine Lagarde, said he’d walk out of the summit if his push for stricter international financial regulation flops.