UK's Osborne demands urgent eurozone action

[October 03, 2011]  MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- British Treasury chief George Osborne says Europe must find a solution to the continent's debt crisis by the time the Group of 20 nations meet next month.

Osborne spoke before a major speech to his Conservative Party's annual convention on Monday. The G-20 summit is in Cannes, France, on Nov. 3-4.

Osborne, who planned to defend Britain's austerity program, said any failure to urgently address the eurozone crisis would be "terrible not just for Britain, not just for Europe, but for the entire world economy."

He told BBC radio that the 17 eurozone nations meeting in Luxembourg on Monday must decisively figure out how to handle Greece's debts, and urged them to extend the size of their bailout fund.

[Associated Press]

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