Nicolas Sarkozy has high hopes that with help – the global financial system can be overhauled for the 21st century. And according to this article from France’s Liberation – the reason he’s so hopeful is that George W. Bush – that opponent of global governance – is on his way out, and Barack Obama is on his way in.
“The next American president will find himself in a completely unprecedented situation: elected in the midst of a financial storm the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Roosevelt in 1932, he will for the first time have the European Union as his main partner – coherent, resolute and bent on reforming the international financial system. George Bush, on the other hand, hasn’t hidden his distaste for global regulation. … As the election of his successor will take place several weeks before the expanded G8 meeting [probably late in November], George Bush will fortunately play largely a role limited to protocol. It will be his successor, the president-elect, who will lead the negotiations for the American side. And all the evidence right now points to that successor as being Barack Obama. His victory would be the best chance for these reforms to succeed. ”
“In contrast, Obama is a political descendant of those who created the Bretton Woods Agreement in July, 1944 [a deal to rebuild the financial system after WWII ]. … If Obama wins, a great Europe-United States alliance could be formed to enforce prudent accounting rules, fight tax havens and regulate banks – but also insurance companies and those sophisticated derivatives that have eluded any oversight and all reason, reform the rating agencies and the funds themselves. And finally, give the IMF the means to take its proper role as overseer of financial markets; in brief, put a reasonable, stable and transparent system on its feet.”
By Alain Duhamel
Translated By Elise Nussbaum
October 23, 2008
France – Liberation – Original Article (French)
The next American president will find himself in a completely unprecedented situation: elected in the midst of a financial storm the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Roosevelt in 1932, he will for the first time have the European Union as his main partner – coherent, resolute and bent on reforming the international financial system. George Bush, on the other hand, hasn’t hidden his distaste for global regulation.
The financial crisis, having been born in the United States as a direct result of reckless Anglo-Saxon derivatives – renders it impossible for Bush to refuse the idea of holding several G-8 meetings, expanded to include China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and at least one Arab state, with the aim of examining the reform proposals and debating them. To have refused these meetings would have signaled a remarkable incapacity to gauge the importance of the ongoing financial and emerging economic crisis on the part of the outgoing president. Bush has already reacted slowly and, at least initially, clumsily to the emergence of a storm that his country bears primary responsibility for. So he couldn’t say no to Nicolas Sarkozy, who came on behalf of Europeans [along with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso] to propose the meetings.
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