Cameron Says London Is Under ’Constant Attack’ From Brussels

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October 28, 2011, 4:09 AM EDT By Gonzalo Vina

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said London’s financial center is under “constant attack” from bureaucrats in Brussels and he will seek to prevent closer integration by countries using the euro from hurting the City.

This week’s agreement to bolster the euro area’s defenses against the sovereign debt crisis will lead to “more meetings alone” and the prospect of “caucusing” among the 17 nations that share the single currency, he said.

That will increase chances that decisions taken without Britain, which isn’t a member of the euro group, may damage London’s standing as the continent’s leading financial center and benefit Paris or Frankfurt.

“London is the center of financial services in Europe,” Cameron told reporters as he traveled to Perth, Australia, where he meets Commonwealth leaders today. “It’s under constant attack through Brussels directives. It’s an area of concern, it’s a key national interest that we need to defend.”

British politicians fear EU efforts to control financial markets following the financial crisis that began in 2007 will do little to reduce risk and damage the industry. Germany wants a financial transactions tax introduced across the 27-nation European Union, while the European Commission has proposed plans that could hurt derivatives trading in London.

“It is very important that the institutions of the 27 are properly looked after and that the Commission does its job as the guardian of the 27,” Cameron said. “As the 27, we need to make sure that the single market is adequately looked after.”

This week, European leaders persuaded bondholders to take 50 percent losses on Greek debt and boosted the firepower of a rescue fund to 1 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion), responding to global pressure to step up the fight against the financial crisis.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne this month won concessions from other European Union finance ministers on derivatives legislation. Ministers agreed to restore a provision that would allow “open access” to clearinghouses for all trades, which had been removed from earlier drafts.

--Editors: Paul Tighe, Peter Hirschberg

To contact the reporter on this story: Gonzalo Vina in Perth, Australia on gvina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net

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