Czech PM Urges Caution Over EU Economic Stimulus

EU leaders meet in Brussels on Sunday for a summit to discuss the financial crisis.

Any stimulus package to boost the sagging European economy must not override safeguards intended to ensure the money is spent properly, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Friday.

"A system of subsidies and illegitimate loans will not bear the much-desired fruit, but rather grapes of wrath," Topolanek, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, wrote in an opinion piece for the Financial Times.

"The more money is given away, the greater (the) control (that) will be needed to check how the money was really used and the more cases of error and misuse (that) will emerge," he added.

EU leaders meet in Brussels on Sunday for a summit to discuss the financial crisis.

Topolanek said that in the crisis, EU budgetary rules must not be sacrificed by countries pursuing their own agendas and that protectionism should not hamper free trade.

"Without true unity, the EU will fail to cope with recession and fail to shape future developments at international level," he added.