With more victims of the massive credit crisis emerging daily, Europe and the US look for ways to prevent such a crisis in the future. Comments from the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Germany’s finance minister Peer Steinbruck, clearly know what is to blame for the credit crunch: US-style capitalism. Mister Steinbruck went as far as to say that the US will lose its status as economic superpower as trust in its financial system falters. Germany has in the past tried to convince the United States to increase regulation of its financial sector, to no avail. The US is planning to spend 700 billion-dollars worth of taxpayer’s money to bail out some of its largest financial institutions.
Both France and Germany on Thursday (25 September) said the current financial crisis would leave important marks on the world economy, with French president Nicolas Sarkozy declaring that the under-regulated system we once knew is now “finished,” and German finance minister Peer Steinbruck saying the crisis marks the beginning of a multi-polar world, where the US is no longer a superpower.
Speaking to an audience of some 4,000 supporters in Toulon, France, Mr Sarkozy said the financial turmoil had highlighted the need to re-invent capitalism with a strong dose of morality, as well as to put in place a better regulatory system.
“The idea of the all-powerful market that must not be constrained by any rules, by any political intervention, was mad. The idea that markets were always right was mad,” Mr Sarkozy said.
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Administrator @ September 29, 2008
Another problem popped up today for the Lisbon Treaty; the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski (of the extreme right wing Law and Justice party), may not sign the Lisbon treaty. One of his aids said that due to the rejection of the treaty by one member state, there cannot be ratification. The president has never been a proponent of the treaty. SLD party leader Wojciech Olejniczak called president Kaczynski “opportunistic”. Ratification in the United Kingdom has stalled as well after a legal challenge by a eurosceptic millionaire.
Poland is emerging as another potential problem for Lisbon Treaty ratification, with the office of the president - who has yet to sign off on the document - beginning to publicly argue that the EU pact is dead following the Irish No.
“There are a lot of indications that…the Lisbon Treaty today doesn’t exist in a legal sense because one of the [EU] countries rejected its ratification,” presidential aide Michal Kaminski told Poland’s Radio ZET on Sunday (22 June).
The EU constitution “ended its life” after the French and Dutch referendums in 2005 he added, with conservative MP Przemyslaw Gosiewski - from the president’s Law and Justice party - taking the same line on the radio talk-show.
“In my opinion - as a lawyer - we have the same situation as after Holland and France…the rules on ratification of the [Lisbon] treaty unequivocally say that after the Irish rejection, it has not been ratified,” he explained.
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Administrator @ June 23, 2008
French president Nicolas Sarkozy warned that further EU expansion was impossible without ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty is meant to streamline EU operations, and give the EU a bigger, more united, voice on the world stage. Irish voters rejected the treaty, with a large percentage admitting they do not know what exactly the treaty consists of. Ireland is the only EU country holding a referendum. 18 nations have so far ratified the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty requires unanimous support by all EU members. President Sarkozy will be travelling to Ireland during the French presidency of the European Union next month.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the European Union will not be able to expand further without ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
An EU summit in Brussels has exposed divisions over how to proceed with the reform treaty - which was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum last week.
A decision on what to do next is expected to be postponed until October.
The leaders are now expected to discuss
Zimbabwe. A draft statement threatens increasing EU sanctions on the country.
Wrong signal
Mr Sarkozy’s comments about EU expansion came after clear divisions emerged over the future of the treaty and the meeting decided that the Irish should report back in October on possible ways out of the impasse.
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Administrator @ June 20, 2008