British leaders oppose ex-bank CEO’s pension
LONDON – The deputy leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party says the government will try to stop a former banking boss from receiving an annual pension of 693,000 pounds ($990,000).
Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Fred Goodwin resigned in November when RBS ran into difficulties and was propped up with 20 billion pounds ($28 billion) in public money. On Thursday, RBS reported a full-year loss of 24.1 billion pounds ($34 billion). Deputy Labour chief Harriet Harman told the BBC on Sunday that Goodwin shouldn’t expect to get the full amount of his pension.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Goodwin’s pension is unjustifiable.
E. European nations don’t want bailouts
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Top European Union officials say at the end of summit talks that eastern European nations don’t want a special rescue program for their region.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says the 10 eastern states of the bloc “do not want a program just for them” because different nations had different problems.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek says the European Union will not leave any nation “in the lurch.” Topolanek chaired Sunday’s crisis talks on Europe’s troubled economies.
EU nations agreed that governments should make sure that bailouts for banks or car makers should not be protectionist or hurt the economies of other members in the 27-nation bloc.