“As European leaders gather next week in a crescendo of meetings ahead of a Nov. 15 global financial summit – a "Bretton Woods II" in Washington – they face an old problem: unity.” This is how the
Christian Science Monitor (30-10-08) starts commenting the European position in view of the Washington meeting. As Jacques Mistral, director of economic studies at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris admits, "The challenge is to give reality to the abstract idea of a world going multi-polar… For the US, China, Europe, globalization has produced some good things,.. It would be unfortunate to have this derailed. We need to come together. And we need to have France and Germany together to do it." But how Europeans are approaching to the event? The Christian Science Monitor ironically recalls the plethora of European summits before November 15th. On Nov. 3, the 15 finance ministers of countries in the eurozone meet in Brussels; on Nov. 4, economic heads of all the EU's 27 members will convene. On Nov. 7, an extraordinary EU summit will hammer out positions ahead of a G-20 meeting of industrialized and emerging countries in São Paulo, Brazil, Nov. 8 – itself a stage-setter for Washington. Just to water down the enthusiasms about a new Bretton Woods, after the Asia-Europe summit in Beijing, columnist Philip Bowring pointed out in the International Herald Tribune that the original Bretton Woods "was designed not in a panic but very deliberately at a time when America's relative economic power was at a peak."
It is useful to recall that the Nov. 15 summit will include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Union. The membership of the G20 comprises the finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7, 12 other key countries, and the European Union Presidency (if not a G7 member); the European Central Bank; the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; the Chairman of the IMFC; the President of the World Bank; and the Chairman of the Development Committee. Who is going to represent the European interests there?