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On April Fools day 2009 Brussels-based environment, development, farming and transparency campaign organizations denounced the EU's continuing contribution to the financial crisis and the limited solutions it advocated at the G20 with a theatre spectacle in front of the European Council.

Politicians and citizens battled their way out of the financial crisis, to the backdrop of a stock-exchange on stilts - all part of "Financial Fools Day", a global day of action on the eve of the G20 meeting in London.

Alex Wilks from the European Network on Debt and Development said:

"The ostrich approach to regulation -- put your head in the sand and hope for the best -- has been exposed as a sham, as many protesters have said for years. European companies and governments bear a big responsibility for the current crisis. Yet EU proposals for the G20 offer little for ordinary citizens in Europe, and the pledges for the world's poorer regions to be announced tomorrow will be a mere drop in the ocean compared to the dramatic impact of the crisis."

Friends of the Earth Europe and the other groups involved are concerned that European governments are bailing out the banks responsible for the crisis without demanding significant regulatory concessions in exchange. European governments are relying on the advice of controversial bankers, continuing to promote further financial services liberalization in trade negotiations, and failing to regulate European-based hedge funds.

Developing countries are being hard hit by the financial and economic crisis, but are being given no additional support by European governments.

Paul de Clerck from Friends of the Earth Europe said:

"We are witnessing not just a financial crisis, but a global systemic crisis with environmental, social, economic and democratic dimensions. Banks need to be held fully accountable for the impacts they have on the environment, food prices, destruction of biodiversity, climate change. To tackle this crisis we need a radical departure from the current economic and social model."

On February 25, Friends of the Earth Europe, in conjunction with Corporate Europe Observatory, SpinWatch and LobbyControl, protested against the fact that an EU committee, set up to advise European leaders on the economic crisis, is largely made up of financial industry insiders.

Activists dressed as sheriffs made their protest outside the European Commission by carrying 'Unwanted' posters with pictures of the 'cowboy' bankers who make up the committee.

Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth Europe said:

"Most of these guys have acted like wild cowboys. They have brought misery to millions of people. Their one-sided advice is not wanted. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The Commission should not rely on a group with such close ties to the financial industry."

The protest was in support of a new report, entitled 'Would You Bank on Them?', which examines the track records of the committee members and argues that, instead of repeating mistakes of the past, the European Commission should investigate how financial industry lobbying contributed to the present crisis, and employ entirely new consultation methods.

Read the full report here