Obama era dawning
Who will the European leaders be dealing with when they travel to Washington ?
Of course, George W will be the man across the table, but they will want to know how much Team Obama is running the show behind the scenes. It may be pretty important for how their ideas go down.
There's going to be some trading places this end too. The French are promising that Spain, the world's eighth largest economy, will be at the top table, perhaps taking one of the French seats: they have two, both as a country and as the EU president.
Don't be surprised if the Czechs are seen wandering around saying "Zut alors!" They too have been promised that they can get a seat at the table as part of the French delegation.
The French are calling for today's summit to propose "concrete responses" to be discussed at the big world summit on 15 November in Washington. They want to make sure that "no financial institution.. escapes regulation" and many of their ideas are aimed at removing the rewards for short termism and too much risk-taking.
They say by the end of the Washington meeting there should be general agreement on these principles, including a new code on risk-taking. And they want these ideas to be turned into hard and fast rules within 100 days of the Washington summit.
I’m Mark Mardell, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
Comments
or to comment.