Brown wants money for small firms now

By Matt Falloon

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain wants Europe to free up money immediately to help smaller businesses cope with the credit crunch, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, ahead of European talks on the financial crisis.

The European Investment Bank has created a fund of 15 billion euros (11.7 billion pounds) to be spread over two years to help small firms. However, Brown wants the money made available now as the credit squeeze puts the brakes on growth.

"What's important is for governments to act now to help small and medium business cope with the need for credit and that's why we're asking for the EIB to bring forward this 15 billion euros," a spokesman for Brown told Reuters.

The EIB is the long-term lending bank of the European Union.

Brown is to attend a summit of leading European policymakers in Paris on Saturday, convened by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate efforts to deal with the deepening crisis.

"I'll be proposing to the leaders I meet in Paris today that we work together to clean up the system both in America and Europe where there've been problems," Brown told Sky.

He said that it was necessary to "call a timetable for international meetings to agree the changes that will open up those areas which have been far too often closed and not transparent."

Brown, who has faced calls from within his ruling Labour Party to stand down, has staked his political future on portraying himself as a man who can steer Britain through an economic downturn.