Brown wants £12bn business fund from EU

British prime minister Gordon Brown will today propose a £12bn (€15.3bn) to help small businesses deal with the credit crunch when he meets fellow European leaders in Paris today.

Mr Brown will join the leaders of the four EU nations belonging to the G8 group of industrialised countries – France, Germany, the UK and Italy, as well as the head of the European Central Bank and the President of the European Commission.