Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-24-Speech-2-338"
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"en.20090324.28.2-338"2
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"Mr President, I welcome the Prime Minister on this, the first leg, of the ‘Brown G20 World Tour’. You have sketched a big agenda for the G20, Prime Minister, from combating world poverty to nuclear disarmament, to peace in the Middle East, and I wish you success. My group congratulates you and your colleagues in the European Council for mapping out the contours of a common approach, albeit on a more limited agenda, to the summit next week.
Opportunities to work with the Obama Administration should not be spoilt by a transatlantic war of words. I know we share that view, but America retains its affection for skeletal regulation, and the reality of this recession shows that those who wilfully ignored bad practice are now suffering most. We need a European financial services authority. By all means press others to support the same standards, but caution from them cannot condone inaction from us. As you say, we need to lock honesty, transparency and the rule of law into the financial system. Reform of global financial institutions is necessary too, to stop current account surpluses and excess liquidity fuelling global boom and bust.
We need the IMF to fill that role. Can it assemble more assets with increased access to crisis funds? Should it become a real asset manager for parts of the global savings pool, second-guessing speculators, preventing panic, stabilising markets? How can we reform its decision-making structures to reflect the demand for more democratic oversight and the power of emerging economies?
It is crucial too, despite the pain of recession, to confront the challenge of climate change and the problems posed by poverty.
Prime Minister, you spoke about the need for action, so will you give the IMF and the World Bank an explicit mandate to tackle the drought, flooding and disease that accompany global warming in the developing world? Will you make sure they grant, lend and plan not just for market success, but to achieve social progress and green goals too? We need a new and sustainable economy enshrined in a global social contract. The era of easy money is past. For future growth, making a living must not equate to making a killing.
But to achieve these things Europe must marshal consensus, and the UK must be part of it. Prime Minister, you and I carry different colours from the political pallet, but as fellows Scots with a burning belief in progressive politics, I know that we both understand Burns when he wrote: ‘Oh would some Power the gift to give us, to see ourselves as others see us’. And those parties pushing themselves and Britain to the sidelines of Europe will cost their country dear.
So let Britain be a positive partner, cast in the European mould. Prime Minister, I expect the single currency to emerge stronger from this crisis. In the chill winds of recession, investors have sheltered under the euro’s wing. You designed five byzantine tests that prevented British entry these past 10 years. Will you now work to bring the United Kingdom into the euro in the post-recession period? The UK should not stand back to the wall while others take to the floor. This is a dance that Britain should join."@en1
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