Special Report: Global Financial
Crisis
BRUSSELS, March 10
(Xinhua) -- With less than one month to go before the Group of 20 (G20) summit
in London on how to tackle the world financial crisis and economic downturn, the
European Union (EU) and the United States remain at odds on what can be
achieved.
While the EU is still pushing hard for tougher
financial regulations at the global level, Washington wants to play it down by
focusing on the real economy and pressing European countries to spend more on
their national stimulus efforts.
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Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown
delivers his speech at the Scottish Labour Party conference in Dundee,
Scotland, March 6, 2009. Brown said on Friday that the G20 group of
nations should prevent bankers from enjoying excessive bonuses based on
short-term results. Setting out his priorities for the G20 summit he will
host in London next month, Brown also said that international institutions
should shore up the banking systems of poorer countries.(Xinhua/Reuters
File Photo)
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In
an interview with the Financial Times published on Monday, U.S. President Barack
Obama's top economic adviser Lawrence Summers urged world leaders to pump more
public money into the economy in a coordinated effort to boost demand and lift
the world out of recession.
"The right macro-economic focus for the G20 is on
global demand and the world needs more global demand," Summers was quoted as
saying.
The Financial Times said his comments make it clear
that Washington wants industrialized nations to share the responsibility for
engineering a global demand-led recovery.
Summers is obviously targeting the EU since the
27-nation bloc has not spent as much as others to stimulate its economy,
according to some critics.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a
report last week that only the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Spain and
Australia are on track to introduce fiscal stimulus packages equivalent to 2
percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) this year.
Although EU leaders agreed to an economic stimulus
plan worth 200 billion euros (256 billion U.S. dollars) at a summit in December,
the sum was only equivalent to 1.5 percent of the bloc's GDP, the IMF said.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L-R),
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and German Finance
Minister Peer Steinbrueck pose for media before a joint summit preparing
the G20 summit in Berlin, February 22, 2009. European leaders met in
Berlin on Sunday to agree a common stance on overhauling global financial
rules but their summit risked being overshadowed by concerns about the
fragility of euro zone and eastern European states.(Xinhua/Reuters File
Photo)
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It
warned that U.S. stimulus efforts would be less effective if other countries do
not follow it.
But Washington's call has apparently been rejected by
the EU.
Germany is "not discussing any additional measures"
to boost its economy, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told reporters on
Monday on arrival at the EU headquarters in Brussels for a regular meeting with
his eurozone counterparts.
Steinbrueck's stand won support from his colleagues
in the 16-nation eurozone.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said
after the eurozone meeting: "The euro area ministers agreed that the recent
American appeals insisting that Europeans make additional budgetary efforts to
combat the effect of the crisis was not to our liking."
"We are not prepared to go further in the recovery
packages that we have put together," he said. "We are not giving the impression
that we are considering implementing further recovery packages."
Meanwhile, Washington seems reluctant to see real
progress in regulatory reform of the global financial architecture, a key demand
which the EU has voiced.
In an effort to hammer out a common European
position, leaders from eight EU countries met in Berlin last month. They backed
sweeping new regulations for financial markets and hedge funds, which will be
discussed by all 27 EU leaders at a summit next week.
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An overall view of world leaders
attending the first Plenary Session at the G20 Summit on Financial Markets
and the World Economy at the National Building Museum in Washington,
November 15, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
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"All
financial markets, products and participants including hedge funds and other
private pools of capital which may pose a systematic risk must be subjected to
appropriate oversight or regulation," the leaders said.
As a key figure behind the EU push for better
financial regulations, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to use the
opportunity of hosting the G20 summit as a drive for concrete results.
He paid a two-day visit to Washington earlier this
month, seeking support from the U.S. government for a new global financial
order.
Despite Obama's endorsement of regulatory reform, it
is not likely the U.S. Congress will accept the idea, analysts said, warning the
divergence across the Atlantic may complicate prospects for what the London
financial summit can really achieve.
The U.S. government, however, has denied that there
is a rift with the EU ahead of the summit.
"Our efforts at the G20 in London will focus on a
number of subjects, both financial regulation and economic stimulus, largely
because there is not one single solution to those problems," White House
spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Monday.
Old obstacles, new crisis hits Italy's
lagging economy
BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Italy, which has long
suffered from low economic growth due to lingering traditional obstacles, has
plunged into an economic downturn since the contagious financial crisis broke
out last year.
Analysts say the current downturn may last for a
considerable period in the country as it battles against traditional old
obstacles that impede its development while trying to pull through the economic
crisis. Full story
German small, medium-sized businesses
hit hard by crisis
BERLIN, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The global financial crisis has seriously hit Germany's small and medium-sized businesses, raising fears
that Europe's biggest economy is heading into a deeper recession.
The business confidence of small- and medium-sized
companies, which constitute the bulk of the German economy, has reached a record
low. Full story
Economic storm in Eastern Europe gets
on global nerves
BEIJING, March 10
(Xinhua) -- The worsening economic situation in Eastern Europe has stirred up
worries that it could spread to the western part of the continent, or even pose
new systematic threats to the rest of the world, two Chinese scholars said here
Monday.
But the European Union (EU) is expected to fix the
problems case by case, they said in an interview with Xinhua. Full story
China expects "positive" results from
G20 London summit
BEIJING, March 7
(Xinhua) -- The G20 summit scheduled next month in London would be able to
achieve "positive" results with the joint efforts of all parties, said Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi here Saturday.
Leaders form 19 developed and developing countries and the
European Union are expected to meet in London on April 2 to discuss stability,
growth, jobs and other issues in face of the financial crisis.Full story
Miliband: Participation of emerging
countries demonstrates new balance in political conversation in G20 London
Summit
LONDON, March 5 (Xinhua) --
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday the participation of
the emerging countries like China, Russia, India and Brazil in G20 London Summit
is an important message that there is a new balance in the political
conversation.
In a joint interview with the four countries'
correspondents before G20 London Summit to be held in April, Miliband said "the
fact that countries like China, India, Russia and Brazil are four partners in
this debate of future global economy. It is itself I think something very
significant, because what it says is that western leaders no longer believe that
they can solve the problem of the world economy of their own." Full story
British PM formally invites world
leaders to attend G20 summit in
London
LONDON, Feb. 20
(Xinhua) -- The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued formal invitations
here on Friday to world leaders to attend the G20 economic summit to be held in
London on April 2.
The state leaders of Argentina, Australia, Brazil,
Canada, China, Czech Republic (EU Presidency), France, Germany, India,
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and United States have been invited to
attend the summit on stability, growth and jobs. Full story
Italian, British PMs talk on G8 and
G20 crisis coordination
ROME,
Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Coordinating the efforts of the Group of Eight and the Group
of 20 to combat the global recession was at the center of talks here on Thursday
between Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown.
Italy holds the G8 presidency for 2009 while Britain
holds the rotating chair of the G20, which is the G8 (Italy, Britain, the United
States, Germany, Japan, France, Canada and Russia) plus 11 emerging economies
like China, India and Brazil, together with the European Union.Full story
Medvedev, Obama to meet on ties at G20
summit: FM
MOSCOW, Feb. 14
(Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama is
likely to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London on April 2, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast by the TV-Center
channel on Saturday.
"Medvedev and Obama have talked on the phone two times ...
Both parties confirmed their position in favor of normalizing relations. As
President Obama said, resetting them. President Medvedev also emphasized the
intention to 'start everything anew'," Lavrov said. Full story
