U.S. willing to discuss financial governance with European Union

[Bindare_Dundat]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has indicated its willingness, for the first time, to discuss creating an international governance structure for financial markets, a top European Union official said on Friday.

"My impression is there's a growing willingness on both sides to discuss seriously the reasons for the crisis and the instruments (for) how we can prevent it from happening again," EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told reporters after two days of talks with Bush administration officials.

"And the question of a governance structure, at least there's a willingness to discuss it for the first time. There was no willingness, you know, to discuss it in the past," Verheugen said.

President George W. Bush will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Saturday to discuss further steps the two sides can take to contain the global financial crisis.

Verheugen said he expected that meeting at Camp David "to define the scope" of a even larger meeting of global leaders to try to tackle the crisis.

Sarkozy this week proposed holding a Group of Eight leading nations summit in New York. However, White House officials said on Friday they did not expect a date for such at meeting to be decided when Bush, Sarkozy and Barroso meet on Saturday.

Verheugen said creating an international governance structure would be a formidable task because even in Europe there is disagreement over whether to create a "European financial watch dog" that would operate across borders

"Therefore it would be difficult for Europeans to make proposals what kind of global governance we should have if we have not decided" how to handle the issue at home, he said.


http://www.reuters.com/article/euDealsNews/idUSTRE49G5K720081017

[Bindare_Dundat]

(BRUSSELS) - European Union leaders handed French President Nicolas Sarkozy a mandate Thursday to press for a sweeping overhaul of the global financial system at a crunch weekend summit with George W. Bush.

Sarkozy said there should be no taboos in the talks with his US counterpart at Camp David on Saturday, called in the wake of the global financial crisis, and should address everything from bankers' bonuses to new roles for the IMF.

"We do not have the right to miss this opportunity for reconstructing our system of finance in the 21st century," Sarkozy said at the end of a two-day EU summit in Brussels dominated by the financial crisis.

"We have a mandate now to discuss this with the President of the United States," he added after the 27 EU leaders endorsed calls for an overhaul of the financial system in the wake of the turmoil on financial markets.

Sarkozy -- whose country holds the EU presidency -- will be accompanied by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso when he makes Europe's case at the Camp David talks.

EU leaders are leading calls for an international emergency summit, perhaps after US elections next month, to reshape the financial system while Washington has shown less enthusiasm.

"This is a crisis that comes from the United States, from the financial system in the United States," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero told journalists.

"It's a crisis we're going to overcome thanks to the European Union, its capacity for coordination and its capacity for leadership."

Sarkozy said he wanted to raise a whole range of root and branch reforms in his talks with Bush including a revamp of the International Monetary Fund.

[marcus]

I'm too tired to read all that but is socialism the jist of it?

[Bindare_Dundat]

I'm too tired to read all that but is socialism the jist of it?

They are discussing having an international fianancial watchdog agency, (what it's mandate would be, only the leaders of the G8 know) and "a sweeping overhaul of the global financial system". There are no specifics but what kind of overhaul are they talking about? There have been several rumors floating around on the net but that's something you should check out yourself and draw your own conclusion.