Calls for a new financial world order have increased with EU leaders poised to meet US officials this weekend to demand a "Bretton Woods II" reform of global institutions.
EU leaders have agreed to back British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's call to use the financial crisis as an opportunity to swiftly overhaul and radically enhance the regulatory power of global institutions.
The Prime Minister wants dozens of world leaders to meet for a major one-off summit where they would rewrite the rules of international finance encompassing "very large and very radical changes".
The original Bretton Woods agreement in 1944, spurred by the depression of the 1930s and the second world war, created the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and laid down common standards for markets around the world. Now with the current financial crisis EU leaders see another opportunity to enhance global regulations on sovereign economies.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, backed Brown's call, saying it was time to "rethink the world's financial system and prevent any repetition" of the current crisis.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy made his own call for a "new Bretton Woods" earlier this month, arguing that the time has come to replace the "Anglo-Saxon" model of "unrestrained markets".
Officials in Brussels indicated last night that a "Bretton Woods II" summit could take place in New York as early as next month, reports the Financial Times.
In addition, Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack has also called for a new global body to oversee the financial crisis, warning that it is like nothing he's ever seen before.