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Vertaal:
              De top van de Europese Unie in Brussel: De EU treft voor Obama voorbereidingen
Maandag, 10 November, 2008 Door Peter Schwarz | Voor Vrijdag, kwamen de 27 overheidsleiders van de Europese Unie (de EU) voor een speciale top in Brussel samen. De uitnodiging was uitgebreid door Franse President Nicolas Sarkozy, die momenteel het voorzitterschap van de Europese Raad houdt. Het merkte de zevende topvergadering aangezien Frankrijk het voorzitterschap in Juli overnam. Het officiële doel van de vergadering was een gemeenschappelijk Europees standpunt voor de wereld economische top op te stellen die plaatsvindend volgende weekend in Washington is. Dit verzamelen die zich van zogenaamde g-20, uit de oude industrielanden (g-8) bestaat zal en uit onlangs industrielanden zoals China, India, Brazilië en Mexico, voorstellen bespreken om de internationale financiële crisis te confronteren. Als men de gastheer van de vergadering van de Vrijdag moet geloven, bereikte Sarkozy, de EU een gemeenschappelijk standpunt in Brussel. „Wij hielden zeer uitvoerige besprekingen, en ik kan zeggen dat Europa een zeer gedetailleerd standpunt heeft,“ hij zei aan het eind van de top. „Wij zullen een gemeenschappelijk standpunt, een visie voor het herstructureren van ons financieel systeem.“ verdedigen Nochtans, als één de concrete resultaten van de top onderzoekt, wordt het duidelijk dat zij niet dan verder een reeks vage en oppervlakkige voorstellen gaan de internationale financiële markten beter om te controleren. De vergadering was met vijf richtlijnen het ermee eens dat de Europeanen in Washington bepleiten. Eerst, zouden de classificatieagentschappen die de kredietwaardigheid van financiële firma's evalueren moeten worden geregeld en worden gecontroleerd. Ten tweede, zouden de rekenschap gevende normen wereldwijd moeten worden geharmoniseerd. Ten derde, zouden alle banken, fondsen en andere financiële instrumenten aan „aangewezen regels onderworpen moeten zijn,“ en dit zou ook op belastingstoevluchtsoorden moeten van toepassing zijn. Ten vierde, de „gedragscodes zouden“ moeten worden vastgesteld om het „bovenmatige nemen van risico's“ in de financiële sector te vermijden. En vijfde, zou het Internationale Monetaire Fonds (het IMF) op deze nieuwe globale regels moeten toezicht houden en de „as van een vernieuwd internationaal systeem worden.“ Precies hoe het IMF zou moeten dit blijft doen onduidelijk. Deze vraag veroorzaakte scherpe geschillen ter voorbereiding van de top. De Franse voorstellen voor het IMF om internationaal economisch beleid te leiden kwamen krachtige oppositie in Duitsland en Groot-Brittannië samen. De Zweedse Eerste Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt waarschuwde ook voor „over-regelt onze economie nogmaals.“ De Duitse krant De Rand van de matrijs warned that Sarkozy’s proposals would lead to the “primacy of politics in economic questions” and said they represented an attack on the “independence of the European Central Bank in monetary policy.” The same newspaper summed up the Brussels meeting with the words: “The Europeans are not exactly staking their claim to play a leading role in the building of a new world financial order from a position of strength. The differences of opinion are still too great within the union, and are barely covered over by the newly found unity around a common negotiating position.” More important than the vague proposals to regulate the financial markets was the demand of the Brussels gathering for a new world financial summit to be held in 100 days in order to formulate concrete measures following the discussion at next weekend’s meeting. By that time, the newly elected President Barack Obama will have been in office for one month. The European heads of government are obviously less concerned with making agreements with the outgoing Bush administration than with determining whether the new administration is prepared to make any concessions. Even before the Washington meeting, Bush has warned against over-regulation of the international markets and called on the participants not to use the crisis “as an excuse for restricting the free market or for new commercial barriers.” In contrast, Obama after his election victory, telephoned several European leaders and promised joint action regarding the financial crisis. At least this is how German government spokespersons have interpreted a 15-minute discussion between Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, the Europeans are not prepared simply to wait for the change of administrations in the US. They are far from sure whether politics in the US will fundamentally change under Obama. They are seeking to use the transition period to strengthen their own position. Asked whether it would not be better to wait until Obama takes office on January 20, President Sarkozy responded that the economic crisis was so serious that the world “cannot wait, not even for the world’s largest economy.” Speculation over a new international financial order, a “Bretton Woods II,” which has been circulating in the European media for weeks must be seen in this context. The 1944 Bretton Woods agreement established the foundations of the post-war financial order. The agreement was based on the economic and political supremacy of the United States. The present financial crisis, which began in the US, is interpreted in Europe to a large extent as signalling the end of this supremacy. A new financial order, it is said, must be established on a multilateral basis and take more strongly into consideration the interests of newly industrialised countries such as China, India and Brazil?and, above all, Europe. Thus, the weekly Die Zeit regards the financial crisis as a “rare opportunity to reshape the global economy.” The newspaper writes in its November 6 edition: “This time an order should arise which does not simply serve the old powers of the West, but also the emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and the Gulf, and which makes it possible for the state to re-conquer some of the terrain that it abandoned to the market…. The outlines of a new world order are coming to the fore.” The article adds that states should “cooperate more closely” and that the new, global problems require “a new, global steering committee.” The same article warns that the crisis not only offers an opportunity to shape the global economy, but also the danger that each individual country “pursues its own interests at the expense of the others.” It asks anxiously, “Which will prevail in the end?” If one considers the facts presented by Die Zeit itself, the answer to this question is clear: The belief that a new and stable economic order will emerge from the present crisis is a pipe dream. All the experiences of the twentieth century argue that the replacement of one great power by another power or group of powers?i.e., the supplanting of US supremacy by a new order placing Europe and the emerging markets on an equal footing, as Die Zeit proposes?cannot proceed peacefully. The faint-hearted proposal of the Brussels summit to eliminate some of the worst speculative excrescences from the international financial markets comes at a time when the crisis has already spread into the real economy. According to the IMF, the entire world economy is sinking into a recession for the first time since the Second World War. However, when the survival of whole branches of industry and financial interests in the hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake, there cannot be any peaceful agreement between rival capitalist states. As far as hopes in Obama are concerned, in the few days since his election he has left no doubt that he is committed to defending the most powerful financial and economic interests in the US. He has surrounded himself with advisors who come from the same circles that have ruled the US for decades. Europe itself is torn by conflicts. Die Zeit describes some of the disputes raging in the run-up to the Washington summit. “Already it appears that some states could break away in order to secure an advantage for themselves,” the newspaper writes. Britain is suspected of favouring a bigger role for the IMF “because the country enjoys much influence in it and because the financial services industry is particularly important for the country.” Die Zeit quotes an insider who said: “They’re only concerned about protecting the City of London.” The newspaper sums up the situation in the European Union in the following way: “The EU states are clear that they can have international weight only if they come to an agreement. But because Germany fears for its own influence, and France has, for a long time, produced only populist proposals, there is great resistance to any institutionalisation of collaboration.” Have Your Say: European Union summit in Brussels: The EU prepares for Obama Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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