IMF urges EU to take action

"IMF, Europe on trial", headlinesLa Stampa. "The Fund's annual assembly opens today [September 23] with the EU in the dock", after markets crashed as latest growth estimates reveal that the ongoing debt crisis could drag the global economy back into recession. IMF director Christine Lagarde has urged Eurozone countries to "immediately enforce the agreements of the July 21 summit, because the time factor is crucial", while US treasury secretary Tim Geithner warned that "preventing a default of Greece is more important than sustaining European growth". "The situation can be described in one word: panic", writes economist MarioDeaglio in the Turin daily. "None of the policies adopted since 2009 on both shores of the Atlantic have worked. [...] The one thing citizens from crisis-hit countries should ask their leaders is to break free from the anonymous tyranny of global markets", forcing banks to separate "speculative circuits from ordinary credit".