Brussels, 14/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - Although the global financial and economic crisis is making investment more difficult, the time has come to make an effort in favour of clean energies likely to create jobs and get growth going again. A strategic choice that summarises the concept in vogue (but with a strong historic connotation) is the Green New Deal, called for by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Also defended by the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament, the message was at the heart of a conference that they organised on Thursday 13 November in Brussels. Wanting to see the right time to act in these times of many crises (economic but also environmental and social), the Greens suggested a series of instruments for better global governance of markets and the establishment of the Green New Deal to foster planetary balance. Speaking during the conference, Pierre Jonckheer, Group Vice-President, said one cannot disassociate the financial and banking crisis from the question of development. A New Green Deal must be set in place to make finance more responsible for its acts. He went on to say: “We are calling on the G20 to seriously bear in mind the idea of the Tobin Tax to combat financial speculation and avoid the outbreak of further crises”, which would have the advantage of putting a brake on speculation while “allowing resources to be found for the creation of funding for developing countries and for combating environmental damage”. Daniel Cohn-Bendit took the view that “there is no national solution to the financial crisis and those who think there is, like the German government, are mistaken”. The co-president of the Greens-EFA pointed out that the establishment of a carbon tax could “bring in 400 billion”, before going on to conclude: “Although the idea of a New Green Deal made more than one person smile before the crisis, today no political force will be without it. And we are proud of it”. (A.B./transl.jl)