Europe is eager to get rid of the US diktat in economy and finance

PanARMENIAN.Net - According to Nicolas Sarkozy the summit should preferably be held in New York, "where everything started". In fact, the European Union is going over the Bretton Woods agreements of 1944, which laid out the present monetary system and founded IMF (International Monetary Fund) as American instruments of exerting pressure on weak and poor countries.

Experts believe that there will be no second Bretton Woods. Firstly because the preparations of the «original» Bretton Woods took rather long and it was held for about a month (from 1 July to 22 July 1944), whereas participants of the summit are short of time. Secondly, the Bretton Woods conference was held in the frames of the UN and was formally called the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, while the summit will be held outside the UN framework. Thirdly, Bretton Woods conference was a gathering of delegates from 44 nations, whose decisions were not then compulsory for their governments. However, the major difference between 1944 and 2008 is the position of the United States. In 1944 the US was an indisputable leader of the West, while today it has lost its label of a leader. Under current circumstances the USA will struggle against France and Great Britain, if not against the whole European Union. And it is difficult to say who will win the fight.

Calling of the summit was suggested by the US President, while the initiative is still on the side of Europe. According to Fred Bergsten, Director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, unlike the USA Europe has a great experience of industry nationalization. English laborists, French socialists and German social-democrats all take up to this when coming to power. However, under the pressure of the current financial crisis the other side of the Atlantic has to follow their European counterparts. Professor of the Princeton University Andrew Moravcsik considers that "The experience of following the European example, for once, could have domestic political implications for the United States. Americans, especially conservatives have a particular view of Europe as overregulated, therefore suffering from weak growth and Euro-sclerosis that delays rapid economic growth in Europe. The current crisis may change that view, and create more respect for the European view of regulation".

With his suggestion to extend the limits of G-8 meeting with the help of the "emerging countries", particularly China and India, Bush first of all removed the UN from the process. By replacing the G-8 meeting, where the US is a minority, by a wider forum, Bush in fact tried to seize the joystick from the hands of Europeans who have taken refuge in the global character of the crisis. "Since the world has never been so interdependent before, it is essential that we work together because we're in this crisis together. For the summit to be a success we must welcome good ides from all over the world," the US President said. In his turn, Sarkozy said: "Now we have a great opportunity to put an end to the odious practice of the past, a practice that led to the current crisis. We cannot go on the same way otherwise we shall face the same problems that provoke the same catastrophe."

Meanwhile with the opening of European markets, stocks of French banks and oil have increased in price. Moscow markets opened with a rise of basic indices reaching no more than 3%.

The common rise in European markets is connected with the optimism of American and Asian markets, which, despite the reserved conclusion of the session are disposed positively. The reason for it is the statement of Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, who spoke on Monday of a "new economic stimulus package to help cash-strapped Americans". However, Sarkozy believes that the European Union should consistently speak with one voice only, if it wants to play an active role in the solution of political and economic crises.

In a word, the US is to blame for everything. Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev regularly voice this accusation in their recent statements. "The financial crisis did not pass around anyone, we suffered great losses. However, Russia is trying to overcome it with minimal damage. Perhaps, fifteen years ago we wouldn't be faced with crisis, but globalization and open economy have played their role in this process and now everyone is paying for the gross mistakes made by a number of states, and first of all the USA. Yet, I think we shall come over the present situation," Medvedev noted.


Karine Ter-Sahakyan