Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer says slow growth in the euro zone threatens the still fragile global economic recovery.
Writing in today's Financial Timeson the eve of an EU finance ministers' meeting in the Dutch resort of Scheveningen, Mr Gordon Brown said Europe must press on with economic reform as weak growth in the bloc was feeding global economic imbalances.
"It is the weakness of EU growth that lies at the root of the imbalances. The euro zone has grown by 3 per cent or more in just one of the last 10 years, while the US has averaged more than 3 per cent," he wrote.
"This EU growth problem makes a new commitment to urgent and fundamental reform essential."
In a downbeat assessment of global economic prospects, Mr Brown said ministers from the EU ministers meeting this weekend, from OPEC next week and from the Group of Seven in a few weeks had to come together to help keep the global recovery on track.
"The risks that have emerged in the world economy will add a sense of urgency to the economic policymakers' talks in the coming weeks," Mr Brown said.
"There are still risks in the continuing imbalances caused by divergent growth rates in the US, Europe and Japan, from public debt in some emerging market economies, and from Japan's financial and corporate problems,"
Mr Brown also called on OPEC to signal the action needed to bring oil prices down to a sustainable level "to ensure that high oil prices do not derail the global recovery to the detriment of all".