Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-23-Speech-4-349"
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"en.20090423.62.4-349"2
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"Mr President, the assessment of the G20 results that we have just heard – success story, turning point in the crisis, an enormous success for the European Union, and so on – in my view raises two questions.
The first relates to the analysis of the current situation of the world financial system with which Europe, as has been seen, is closely connected. Let us be clear, the desire of the G20 leaders to send, at whatever cost, a reassuring message to the market, and indeed to the public, led them to very much play down the current situation.
In reality, forecasts of the estimated, but still largely hidden, banking losses are soaring from one month to the next. The worst is not behind us, it is in front of us. There was talk of losses of USD 2 000 billion three months ago, and that was already astronomical. Now, the IMF puts the figure at USD 4 000 billion.
For its part, the Commission has just put a figure of EUR 3 000 billion on the funds put aside under various guises by the Member States to save the banks, in other words a quarter of their GDP. That is the price of the mad dash to cash for profit and to profit for cash.
This grim reality underlines the importance of my second question. What is the real substance of the progress made on regulation by the G20 in London?
When Joseph Stiglitz, who was, as you know, appointed by the United Nations to chair an independent committee of experts on the financial crisis, was asked: ‘Do you agree with the economist Simon Johnson when he says that the regulatory aspect of the G20 is close to zero?’, Mr Stiglitz replied, ‘Yes, I do’.
The ink on the London statement was not even dry when the main member state of the G20, the United States, called on the speculative funds that are comfortably installed in the tax havens to buy at a knock-down price the toxic assets that are blocking the balance sheets of the US banks. We are really raising capitalism’s moral standards.
In truth, the G20 did nothing to stop liberal globalisation. It ignored the key question of reorganising the international monetary system. It promoted the IMF without considering its transformation. It drew a veil over the immense social challenge created by this crisis. It prescribed homeopathic remedies where major surgery is obviously needed.
Europe, I think, must go far beyond the G20. The house is on fire. Do you hear the cries of anger rising up from our societies? They are demanding not soothing words, but strong, practical action, now!"@en1
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