The EU needs to step up to reform the international financial system
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Written by Frédéric Rochelle
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Friday, 29 September 2006
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 BEST EDITO OF THE WEEK - As the General Assembly of the IMF and World Bank closed its doors last week in Singapore, one can just be astonished at how limited the European contribution has been, both in shaping the debate around governance and corruption (sparked around the World Bank) and also in leading the reform of the IMF, soon to be followed by the World Bank reform. The headlines of newspapers worldwide were focusing on understanding if the World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz won or lost his battle on the governance and anti-corruption paper. His main enemy was portrayed as being Hilary Benn, the UK development minister, threatening to not disburse £50Mio to the World Bank. The main outcome of the battle, as the same minister puts it, is that the shareholders have now gained control of the Bank’s governance policies: “What’s very clear is that the Board is now going to oversee further development and then implementation of policy – and that’s the outcome”. For European politicians, be them British, winning a battle against the American head of the World Bank, former architect of the war in Iraq, is a good political gain with their constituencies. However, winning this battle should not be made at the expense of actions against corruption and in favor of better governance: this would not be sustainable for the European governments (their public opinions would not accept it), and even less for the populations of the poorest countries who know how costly corruption is to their daily life. As for the IMF and World Bank reform: the Bretton Woods institutions were arguably created to organize the flows of the financial system, encouraging the capital accumulated in wealthy parts of the world towards the poorest parts. A quick look at the situation at the end of 2005 shows that the main flows taking place are the exact opposite: a group of developing countries (mostly China and the oil-producers) transferred most of the $800bio needed by the US to finance its unstoppable consumption: including mostly the always more indebted households, and the efforts of war. Not only this situation does not respect the equity that many would expect from a well organized financial system, it is absolutely not sustainable. With the IMF and other financial institutions expecting the dollar to go down significantly in order to readjust the global macro-economic equilibrium, the main question is: will it be a soft adjustment/landing for the American economy and the rest of the world economies behind it? Or will it be a brutal adjustment, generating all kinds of financial, economic and social crisis? As in the geopolitical arena, the EU could play a role of mediator in the financial and economic arena: with comparatively no surplus or deficit, its economy is not engaged as much in the global disequilibria as the two other economic giants are. China and America are engaged in the awkward game where the gigantic Chinese commercial surplus is used to finance American deficit: China is becoming the main creditor of the US, for them to continue and buy their products (as well as to maintain an undervalued Yuan pegged to an overvalued dollar). To reorganize the world financial order, a “political globalization” has to catch up with the financial and economic globalization. The Europeans have to start looking outward, and not only inward to their own internal power struggles: rather than following the IMF director proposed slight adjustments of voting rights, it is time to take responsibility for the reorganization of these major financial flows, especially seen the risks involved there. Creativity is needed, both with a new institutional set-up: if the mandate of Mr. Trichet does not allow him to do so, should Mr. Juncker, the political Mr. Euro step up, with the support of his other European non-Euro colleagues? But also with operational solutions: since the dollar will continue to be a reserve currency, but with foreseeable less weight, should for instance a World Currency Unit be created, modeled on the European Currency Unit, and centered around Dollar, Euro, Pound, Yuan and Yen? Finally, in terms of voting right in the international financial institutions, should “the one Dollar - one vote” continue, or should it be shifted toward a set-up that would be modeled on the EU or the UN, of “one country - one vote”, or even “one man - one vote”? Frédéric Rochelle
Paris (France)
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 30 September 2006 )
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Non ce n'est pas une affiche de campagne en Turquie, mais bien celle du parti socialiste autrichien (SPÖ) pour les élections d'octobre prochain à Vienne. Après les affiches de campagne de Strache qui plaide pour le " pur sang viennois" c'est la course au populisme?
Wien-Wahl: Politiker sprechen türkisch: 200.000 Neoösterreicher Wähler haben Migrationshintergrund. Die Parteien buhlen um ihre Stimmen - gerne auch in einer Fremdsprache.( Kurier 25/08/2010)
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La deuxième rencontre du cycle
“LA DEMOCRATIE EN DANGER”,
consacrée à la Justice en Europe
Le lundi 13 septembre
de 19h30 à 22h00
Salons de l’Aveyron
17 Rue de l'Aubrac
75012 Paris
 A l’heure où les discours et les mesures sécuritaires et judiciaires se durcissent dans nombreux pays européens, où l’on sait les atteintes aux droits les plus élémentaires et aux principes fondamentaux des simples citoyens, quels traitements sont réservés à ceux qui tiennent les pouvoirs politiques, financiers, économiques entre leurs mains? Une conférence-débat organisée dans le cadre du cycle La démocratie en danger par Les Amis de Beppe Grillo à Paris et le NewropMag.
Intervenants: les députés européens Luigi De Magistris, Sonia Alfano et Rosario Crocetta ; Harald Greib, vice-président de Newropeans en charge des affaires des institutions européennes ; Eric Alt, magistrat, membre de l’association MEDEL (magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés) et de l’association Anticor, et Corinne Lepage, députée européenne et ex Ministre de l’environnement, engagée dans la lutte contre la corruption politique et financière.
Parmi les sujets de discussion:
- L'infiltration des organisations criminelles et le vide législatif relatif en Europe
- Les récentes dépénalisations des crimes financiers et économiques en Italie, en France et leur traitement au sein des institutions européennes
- Présomption d'innocence ou de culpabilité? L'exemple de la “loi bâillon” sur les écoutes téléphoniques qui viole les recommandations de l’OSCE concernant l’emploi de sources et de matériels nécessaires aux investigations journalistiques au service de la démocratie.
Contacts:
Micaela Bracciaferri, Coordinatrice “Les Amis de Beppe Grillo à Paris »
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Marianne Ranke-Cormier, Rédactrice en chef du NewropMag
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Le 22 juillet dernier, Franck Biancheri, Directeur des études de 
