Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy argued together yesterday in Berlin, for strict supervision of the financial sector, upstream of the G20 in Pittsburgh. In a joint letter that they speak today to the Swedish Presidency of the Union, the two leaders call this area to a common European position before the international Summit on 24 and 25 September. They claim there rules on bonuses paid to traders: they could not be paid before a certain period of time and should be reduced in the event of risk taking exaggerated. "The France, the Germany have already taken steps, we apply regardless of the decisions of other countries, said Nicolas Sarkozy, and those who do not want to make the same effort of regulation must assume their responsibility."The French President finds interesting the idea of defining the level of own funds required from banks with the nature of their activities. Chancellor Merkel has stressed the need to do more to get in a situation where a bank could put pressure on States to be bailed out because its bankruptcy would put the international financial system on the ground.
Paris and Berlin have also referred to the Copenhagen Summit in December on post-Kyoto. They say for a world environmental organization.
Paris and Berlin, who work definitely remains on the topics of global governance, also want to convince their European partners to increase the EU contribution to the strengthening of the international monetary Fund (IMF). In a joint letter signed by Christine Lagarde and its German counterpart Peer Steinbrück, the AFP has had copy yesterday, Paris and Berlin calling for a European contribution of 75 billion euros, but 125 billion euros. The France and the Germany themselves ready to increase each of the two-thirds their own contribution, to respectively EUR 18.45 and 25,03 billion.
"Beyond the reasonable"
Furthermore, its only initiative this time, Peer Steinbrück also wrote to his counterparts from the g-20 a letter in which he said he wanted to reflect "on a greater contribution in the financial markets to the funding of the huge costs of the crisis."The g-20 finance ministers meet in London Friday. The letter of the German Finance Minister follows the words of the week last by the head of the British authority for financial services, the international FSA, Adair Turner, on the establishment of a tax on financial transactions. Referring to a City which would have "grown beyond a reasonable" and leading part "useless to society" activities, he launched a pavement in international finance in deciding for a tax of inspiration tobinienne. While banking environments have proven very angered by these statements, the British Ministry of finance said that "taxes are the responsibility of the Chancellor of the Exchequer," implied not that of the FSA. Yesterday, however, the French Minister of economy, Christine Lagarde, felt that the proposal to his German counterpart was a track "very interesting.avant to add the need to take care not" surréguler or levying a segment of the financial market "."
Peer Steinbrück also hopes to reopen the debate on a topic dear to Berlin: the coordination of crisis exit strategies. The Germany, always anxious to budgetary orthodoxy, feared to be disadvantaged in the global competition if it resumes the path to the consolidation of public finances before the other major economic powers. It is probably on the ground that Berlin will be the most difficult to be heard.