Brussels, 16/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - After the latest crash on the world's stock markets due to deepening fears of impending economic recession, the European Council stressed its determination in a conclusions document adopted on Thursday 16 October to take the necessary measures to support growth and jobs (the French Presidency's draft version of the document talked of measures to react to the slowdown in demand and shrinking investment, particularly to support EU industry). The Commission was asked to formulate proposals before the end of the year to protect EU industry's international competitiveness. It remains essential to pursue structural reform in order to ensure a return to growth and to protect jobs, explains the conclusions document, and this would also work to strengthen economic competiveness. At a press conference, the French Presidency went further, calling for a coordinated response from Europe to the threats to the real economy. In the current situation, the idea is to get the banking system working again, but when foreseeing a bank bailout programme or inter-bank lending guarantees, we are not playing a game of Monopoly, explained Nicolas Sarkozy on 15 October, explaining that behind the banking system was the real economy. He said he wanted the current desire for international talks to continue, explaining that this emergence of economic governance in Europe, which has been awaited for so long, started in Paris last Sunday and must not stop. Nicolas Sarkozy said he had 'several ideas' about how to improve the coordination of economic policies. This is not the time, he said, to drop the things that work in the current crisis, namely coordination, unity and a desire to make progress. 'Should we have the same coordination for monetary policies as we have for the financial crisis?' asked Sarkozy, answering that for the French Presidency, the answer was 'Yes, yes, yes!'. He added, however that if one asked whether everyone agreed on this at the moment, the answer was 'No, no, no'. (A.B. trans fl)