Prague - The European Union's finance ministers Friday praised the deal reached a day earlier by the world's largest economies on new global financial regulation and a boost in funding for key international institutions.

Arriving for a set of informal meetings in Prague, the EU finance ministers called the results of Group of 20 (G20) summit, made in a bid to overcome the global recession, a success.

"The fact that the twenty strongest economies were able to agree on all these points is in my opinion a historic success," said Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, whose country chairs the 27-member bloc.

He applauded the summit for "warning against protectionism" and putting no pressure on delegations to boost their economies through further public spending.

His German counterpart Peer Steinbrueck called the results a breakthrough as not a single financial market, product or participant will remain unregulated, including hedge funds and rating agencies.

He also praised the G20 leaders for willing to crack down on tax havens. "I think we made great progress," he said.

The G20 leaders also agreed Thursday to give the International Monetary Fund (IMF) more financial firepower. The extra financing is designed to enable the IMF to better help developing countries engulfed by economic crises.

French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde praised the increase in funding as "a huge big stimulus that is made available for emerging countries" that are the worst hit. (dpa)