Brussels, 03/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - “We have said what we will do. Now we will do what we say”. Such is José Manuel Barroso's conclusion and commitment after the summit on 2 April (EUROPE 9875). The course of action pointed out in London should reflect decisions to be taken over coming months, with a view to a new meeting of leaders before the end of the year (probably in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly where all world leaders will be gathering mid-September).
Addressing the press, the president of the European Commission welcomed the results of the G20 which answer the five expectations that he himself had expressed before the meeting (EUROPE 9873). The G20 conclusions are “a real signal of energy and coordination”, Barroso said with appreciation, stressing: “There can be no miracles. But citizens can wake up tomorrow knowing that things will change. We will not allow this crisis to happen again. And in the coming weeks and months we will implement the necessary steps to repair our global economy and get it back on its feet”. At European level, on 21 April, the Commission will above all present initiatives on directors' pay, hedge funds and investment funds. The proposal on financial supervision in the EU will follow in May.
Joseph Daul is also pleased. In a press release, the president of the EPP-ED Group at the European Parliament states: “The European centre-right is in favour of a social market economy. This means an economy governed by rules which promotes necessary social cohesion. The G20 has guided us in this direction. Europe has done well to use its influence to achieve this result and it must keep up the pressure to ensure that the decisions made in London are implemented as soon as possible”. Wilfried Martens, the leader of the EPP Party, speaks along the same lines. The Socialists, on the other hand, regret conservative obstruction of a new effort to re-launch the economy, albeit immediately needed by everyone, as Poul Nyrup Rasmussen states. Although the president of the PES welcomes the work accomplished by Gordon Brown for reaching a satisfactory agreement on several points, he above all awaits the Commission's proposals before judging the seriousness and reality of measures announced.
Several decisions taken on Thursday should be fleshed out in order to truly implement, at several levels and in full transparency, the change of direction so acclaimed at the summit. It will be necessary to develop in detail the elements concerning strengthened financial supervision (mainly the effectiveness of possible sanctions against uncooperative jurisdictions and the setting in place of principles developed by the forum for financial stability on payments and bonuses), in-depth reform of the international financial institutions, mobilisation of financing in favour of global trade, and the way to deal with impaired assets.
Other points on the communiqué may also disappoint those who expected a concrete and ambitious timetable for concluding Doha talks (the new US administration still needs time to adopt a position on this dossier) or those who hoped for more explicit commitment on the environment. The British project to include a commitment aimed at granting a substantial part of the recovery plans in favour of low carbon projects has failed. It was not possible, some diplomats say, to convince China on this
point and the G20 has therefore to be content with a somewhat vague paragraph inserted right at the end of the communiqué. (A.B./transl.jl)