BNE Blog

The G20 Summit

By admin

By Eloise Nosworthy

The world’s political leaders were in Seoul on the 11th and 12th November, for the 5th G20 Summit. The group, since the 2008 global financial crisis, has sought to act to coordinate solutions at the international level. Global trade has remained at relatively high levels and protectionist policies have been so far quite successfully kept at bay.

The summit in Seoul achieved a certain amount in terms of decisions and regulations. The Financial Times summarised them as follows:

Chinese President Hu Jintao; Photograph: G20 Seoul Summit

“New rules for bank capital and liquidity have been agreed. International re­commendations now exist on how to intensify the supervision of banks. There is finally agreement on the outline of reforms to the International Monetary Fund, giving greater voice to emerging countries. New IMF lending facilities have been established to provide better financial safety nets for countries facing temporary financing crises. And countries have agreed to maintain current account imbalances at sustainable levels.”

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November 18th, 2010 | Posted in Economy, External Relations | No Comments »

The Single Market Act

By admin

By Eloise Nosworthy

European Commission logo for the Single Market Act. Photograph: European Commission

Although always an integral part of the European project, the Single Market was only made one of its official aims in 1986, through the European Single Act. It posited the free movement of goods, services, capital and people as an essential building block of the European Community and aimed to create a single market by 1992.

In spite of the progress which has been made and of the great benefits created by the Single Market, it is far from complete. Indeed, if today buying French or Italian wine in the UK is rather expensive, compared to say English sparkling wine, that is partly because of trade barriers for one and preferential arrangements for the other. Mario Monti’s recent report suggests that completion of the Single Market would be the most powerful driver of EU endogenous growth. The increase in trade and private consumption it would precipitate could go a long way to reducing unemployment and locking in sustainable growth. Similarly, Jürgen Thumann, president of BusinessEurope, said the EU could make an extra €275bn-350bn a year by removing the remaining barriers within the Single Market. Read full article »

November 8th, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Money and power – the argument for Anglo-French defence cooperation

By Phillip Souta

By Phillip Souta

A talk was regularly given to new officials starting at the French foreign ministry, the Quai d’Orsay, in the 1970s. No question marks or exclamation marks were to be used in official documents. The Quai asked itself no questions and was never officially surprised. That guidance can’t have survived the changes of the last 30 years.

Vanguard Class Royal Navy SSBN. Photograph: Royal Navy

President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron met in London today to discuss a level of military cooperation that has never been attempted or achieved before.  Details of the results can be found here.  Why now? Money and power – we are running critically short on both.

Our shared interests have been thrown into sharp relief by the prolonged financial crisis and our ebbing global power.  We are fortunate enough to live in a world governed by rules on trade and the general conduct of international affairs that are largely of our own making.  They benefit us hugely, but there is no guarantee that these rules will continue to exist. Read full article »

November 2nd, 2010 | Posted in Defence | No Comments »

BNE Briefing on IMF Reform

By admin

By Eloise Nosworthy

Photograph: IMF

Earlier this week, the G20 announced it had agreed to make some fundamental changes to the IMF. The plans include the election, rather than the nomination, of Executive Directors, and a comprehensive set of practical reforms to do with currency manipulation and the resulting economic tensions between countries.

Most importantly, however, is the decision of abandoning two European seats in favour of developing countries. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Director of the IMF, has described this moment as historical, stating it was probably “the biggest reform ever in the governance of the institution”. The decision was taken in response to an increasingly tense economic and political situation, in the hope that progress can be made on some controversial international issues. Read full article »

November 2nd, 2010 | Posted in Economy, External Relations, Regulation | No Comments »

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