National
Spanish Industry Minister blames George W. Bush for the financial crisis
By h.b.
Oct 24, 2008 - 7:43 AM

While Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is reported to have rung the White House and got in contact with both Presidential candidates in the United States in continuing attempts to get an invitation to the summit on the world economic crisis which President Bush has organised in Washington, his Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastián, has blamed Bush for the crisis.

‘It’s evident that the crisis started in the United States’, he said, adding that ‘There are only 13 days of Bush left, and they will to quickly’. He went on to defend the action of European governments and called for a reduction in interest rates and an improvement in the terms for credits for families and businesses.
Sebastián made his comments in China where he and the Prime Minister have been taking part in the Euro-Asian Summit.

Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, has said that Spain is doing everything possible to be in the Washington summit.
‘We consider that we have all the legitimate right to be present in this meeting’, he said, adding that diplomacy had its stages, its moments, and in a quiet way Spain would do all that was possible to attend.

Meanwhile the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has called another summit for EU leaders to be held in Brussels. This meeting is being planned as preparation for Europe ahead of the summit in Washington next month. Sarkozy called on Europe to defend its citizens in the face of the financial crash.