Brussels, 31/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - The road to Pittsburgh goes once again via London, with the meeting of the finance ministers and central bankers of the G20 on 4 and 5 September in the British capital. The European Union has chosen to prepare for this stage by calling a meeting of its finance ministers for an informal lunch in Brussels on Wednesday 2 September. This meeting, designed to help the 27 towards a common position, will feed into the discussions of a forthcoming informal European Council, to be held in mid-September. 17 September has been mooted, but Stockholm has not confirmed this, and the chosen date is likely to be announced this Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, the 16 finance ministers of the Eurogroup will meet first of all, before the 27 come together over lunch, to hold exchanges over three points concerning: - an examination of the general economic and financial situation in Europe; - actual preparations for the ministerial meeting of the "Finance" G20 in London, ahead of which the text of the "common EU language" will be adopted and a status report on the banks' stress tests. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) will report to the ministers. Although no final results are yet available, the main objective is to decide how to communicate publicly on the subject.
The member states are taking the initiative and consulting each other ahead of the G20 summit (24-25 September). This is notably the case of the French and German leaders, who met in Berlin on Monday (the Chancellor will also receive Gordon Brown on 6 September). President Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are seeking to make proposals on a number of subjects, such as the rules for bankers' bonuses, relations with tax havens, countries which refuse to cooperate in the fight against money laundering and amending accounting and prudential standards. It is doubtful that their ideas will all be adopted unanimously by their partners, but they are likely to increase the expectations of the public ahead of the G20.
In an interview published the same day in the British daily newspaper The Guardian, Alistair Darling also stressed the importance of acting over pay and bonuses. "Restoring public confidence, as well as ensuring the future stability of the sector, requires us to go further on pay and bonuses", the Chancellor of the Exchequer agreed, pointing out: "Banks have to realise that the taxpayer came to their rescue for a purpose. That purpose was to get credit going again, not to fund rewards for excessive risk-taking which had such disastrous consequences". He ended with a warning: "bankers forget that at their peril".
Mr Darling also took position in favour of a greater increase in the additional contribution (of €75 billion) which the countries of the EU voted to pay into the International Monetary Fund during the April G20. In the afternoon, France and Germany echoed his desire to see the promised European contribution rise to €125 billion. The matter could be approved as early as Wednesday. (A.B./transl.fl)