G20 Summit at Cannes marked with little progress, disappointment and protests

The recently concluded G20 Summit of world leaders in Cannes, France failed to come up with concrete solutions to the sovereign debt crisis gripping the Eurozone and was marked with little progress, disappointment and mass protests.

The two-day summit of leaders of the world's richest nations last November 2 to 3, 2011, tackled the financial and economic crisis that spread across the globe in 2008 and were called upon to further strengthen international cooperation.

But the summit's concluding document presented a grim view of the global situation. “Since our last meeting, global recovery has weakened, particularly in advanced countries, leaving unemployment at unacceptable levels …tensions in the financial markets have increased due mostly to sovereign risks in Europe… there are also clear signs of a slowing in growth in the emerging markets…Commodity price swings have put growth at risk…Global imbalances persist.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that the G20 summit had failed to resolve the eurozone debt crisis. While he recognized that G20 leaders had taken some “positive steps forward”, Cameron said the problems in the eurozone was having a "chilling effect" on the British economy.

“It is in Britain's interest that the eurozone crisis is sorted out as rapidly as possible. It is having a chilling effect on our economy and for every day it goes on not resolved, it is a day that is not good for our economy. That is fact,” Cameron said in a Guardian.co.uk report. He also assured that Britain will not support any more bailouts fund.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted that the settlement of the current eurozone's debt crisis will take at least a decade to complete. "The debts have been accumulated over a decade," Merkel said.She added, “it will certainly last for a decade until we are left feeling better."

World leaders also failed to agree on how to strengthen the IMF to reverse the European debt crisis. G20 discussed how to increase the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) lending capacity to US$250-billion. The entire summit was completely overshadowed by political turmoil in Greece and worries about Italy. G20 leaders also discussed the possibility of Greece leaving the European Union (EU). Debt-ridden Italy was forced to agree to the IMF's monitoring its austerity program.

China, Brazil and South Africa refused to give any concrete commitments and will have to decide whether helping Europe is a worthy investment. these countries were quick to indicate that they would channel their money through the IMF.

Greece in ruins

Greek national leaders are preparing to form a government of "national salvation”, in a desperate bid to prevent the debt-stricken Athens from plunging into bankruptcy and possible exit from the EU.

After delivering a speech before the Greek Parliament, Prime Minister George Papandreou survived a confidence vote of 153-145 and vowed to build a government that can unite Greeks and reassure creditors.

Greece will be unable to pay its creditors in mid-December unless parliament approves a bailout deal that Papandreou negotiated with EU. The agreement would provide US$180 billion in public funds and calls for a 50-percent write-off of Greek debt held by private investors.

Eurozone countries produced a rescue plan for Greece last week, but the details are yet to be announced. The agreement includes a deal with Greek debt holders that writes off 50 percent of the face value of their bonds. Existing bailout fund will be boosted to several-fold to potentially US$1.4 trillion that includes recapitalization of vulnerable banks with some US$148-billion.

Protests vs. G20

During the Summit, over 10,000 people have marched in the streets of France – the crowds, angry with the financial system and invigorated by the global “Occupy” movement, demanded governments focus on people more than corporations. “The primary powers within the G20 – United States, Germany, Britain and France – the real dominant economic and military powers – they want to show a world order, a system of states, that still has stability, but in fact there isn’t stability,” Brian Becker of the ANSWER anti-war coalition said. “This summit is an attempt to put a shiny face on what is, really, a failed system,” he said.

Global unions under the UK-based International Trade Union Council (ITUC) also presented their demands to global leaders in addressing financial and unemployment problems. Meanwhile, local labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno said “the G20 summit will only spread and worsen the poverty and hunger aggravated by the current global economic crisis. On the one hand, it will result in a renewed push for huge bailouts for big corporations and financial institutions which do not generate production in the real economy. On the other hand, it will result in a renewed push for tight austerity measures for the workers.”

Previous G20 Summits were in Washington in 2008, in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, and in Toronto and Seoul in 2010.

Courtesy : http://thepoc.net