The European Commission delivered an unusually sharp rebuke to the United States yesterday over its failure to endorse its $700 billion (£394 billion) rescue package for the stricken financial services industry.

Twenty-four hours before the Commission tables draft pan-European legislation to toughen up capital requirements for banks, Johannes Laitenberger, its spokesman, said: “The turmoil we are facing has originated in the United States. It has become a global problem. The US has a special responsibility in this situation . . . we expect that the decision will go through soon. The US must take its responsibility in this situation, must show statesmanship for the sake of its own country and for the sake of the world.”

The Commission’s unusual decision to deliver the statement, unprompted, reflected the degree of frustration in Brussels at the failure of the US to take measures to calm financial markets. The organisation contrasted the paralysis in Washington with the action that British, French, German, Irish, Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg authorities had taken over the previous 48 hours to try to shore up confidence in the banking sector.

“The last hours have shown that European authorities are assuming their responsibilities. This again shows that public authorities in Europe can live up to the task of preserving financial stability and protect savings,” Mr Laitenberger said.

While European Union officials insist that there is no need for Europe to follow the American example and establish a multibillion-pound bailout fund to rid banks of the bad debts that sparked the crisis, there were indications yesterday that the idea had not been totally dismissed. Mr Laitenberger confirmed that “reflections are still ongoing and are not exhausted”.

José Manual Barroso, the Commission’s President, has said that policy-makers were working on a “structural European response”.

The comments followed an emergency operation to salvage Dexia, the Belgian bank, with a €6.4 billion (£5.1 billion) injection of capital by authorities in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. This came a day after Fortis, another pillar of the Benelux banking establishment, had been partially nationalised in an €11.4 billion deal designed to allay fears that it would be wiped out.

There are concerns that other large European banks, such as ING, of the Netherlands, KBC, of Belgium, Natixis, of France, and UniCredit, of Italy, could also be sucked into the maelstrom.

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, joined Alessandro Profumo, the chief executive of UniCredit, in seeking to calm anxiety over the liquidity of the Italian banking system after UniCredit’s shares were suspended for the third time in two days. Italy’s financial stability panel, meeting for the third time in ten days, insisted that the impact of the global financial crisis on the Italian banking and insurance system was “limited”.

Mr Berlusconi said: “I am not pessimistic about the future, because our financial situation is less fragile than that of the United States.”

UniCredit, Italy’s fourth-largest bank, is under pressure because it has higher exposure to international markets than many other Italian banks, with half its revenues coming from overseas. In a statement to employees, Mr Profumo said that group liquidity ratios were well above the limits approved by the board of directors and regulators. However, shares in UniCredit were suspended twice on Monday and again yesterday because of “excessive [share price] losses”. Its share price has fallen by 40.8 per cent since the start of the year.

The Italian central bank said that liquidity in the Italian banking system was “satisfactory and adequate”.

In Germany, Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, defended the €35 billion rescue this week of Hypo Real Estate, Germany’s second-biggest commercial property lender, which had come under threat as banks refused to fund its operations. Ms Merkel said that the state-backed bailout - the biggest in German history - would restore confidence in the country’s banking system.

In France, President Sarkozy summoned the heads of French banks and insurance firms to a meeting, at which he told them to keep credit flowing. Mr Sarkozy’s office said that he would announce measures this week to encourage lenders to fulfil “their priority mission of financing the economy”. The meeting was also called to determine where government intervention was most likely, after Mr Sarkozy’s pledge to guarantee all French bank deposits.

Part of Europe’s response to the banking crisis will come today when Charlie McGreevy, the European Internal Market Commissioner, tables plans to reform banking capital requirements, affecting some 8,000 banks.

If approved by EU governments and the European Parliament, they would force banks to hold on to more capital to cover risky activities and to appoint supervisors to monitor those operating in more than one European country.

The Icelandic currency tumbled against the euro as rating agencies issued warnings over the country’s creditworthiness after the Government’s bailout on Monday of Glitnir, Iceland’s third-largest bank. The part-nationalisation of Glitnir sent the Icelandic kronur to a record low against the euro, falling by 5 per cent to IKr150.15 as the agencies issued negative comments about the country’s ability to repay borrowings.

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