Reaktion of German Chancellor Angela Merkel (22.09.2008) je 18 UTC

While the US Congress begins debating the government's 700 billon dollar bailout plan for banks saddled with bad debt, investors and politicians elsewhere are asking what all this means for them. Many foreign banks have large US interests and say they should be part of the rescue operation. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has been calling on other governments to follow the US lead and set up their own action plans for troubled banks. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that lead comes a little late. Long an advocate of tighter regulation, she had some tough words this weekend for the US.