Posted by Hope for G20
The heads of state and government of the 20 leading industrial and emerging countries come together in Pittsburgh to sketch out a new global financial order. Central to their task are the regulations to be set for banks and financial markets, in a bid to prevent even more desastrous crises in the future. The European press hopes for the best but voices few expectations for the G20 summit.
La Croix – France | 24/09/2009
At the start of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh the Catholic daily La Croix comments on French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ambitions to give France more clout in international affairs: “In fact France does not lack authority. Take the French management of the financial crisis under our EU Council presidency and the role played by Nicolas Sarkozy after the war in Georgia. The results of the past months are really rather flattering for the president of the republic. Paris now has an even better position in the concert of nations. After much hesitation, the French-German tandem, joined by the UK, continues to place high moral demands on the financial system. Even if neither the US – nor even the 27 members of the EU – could go along with the core French proposals on bonuses, and even if the exact way forward will be the subject of heated discussion at the G20, no one has suggested abandoning the initial ambition of establishing better financial regulation.”
Cinco Días – Spain | 24/09/2009
The business paper Cinco Días praises the G20 meeting place: “Pittsburgh is the right place. The Pennsylvanian city hosting the G20 summit was once the scene of one the most profound heavy industry overhauls in living memory. Today it is growing with a modern economy geared towards automation systems, software and biomedical technology. This means the world leaders need only look around to know what should be done. For the time has come to act. If the meetings in Washington and London were forums aimed at putting out the fire, avoiding global economic collapse with huge injections of funds in a combined action between politics and the central banks, this one in Pittsburgh should go down in history as the culmination of the global economic overhaul that will set in motion mechanisms to prevent a repetition of the crisis. Otherwise it will be a failure.”
Luxemburger Wort – Luxembourg | 23/09/2009
The daily Luxemburger Wort puts little hope in the G20 summit in Pittsburgh: “The perspectives on how a new economic order should look after the crisis differ too widely between the Anglo-Saxon countries and continental Europe. The leaders of the most important industrial and emerging markets can only agree on one point: they all want to put an end to the so-called tax havens. True, these havens have little to do with the crash, which started in the US. But they are important as a scapegoat for the big economic powers when it’s time to make a show of firmness. That doesn’t really pose a problem for Luxembourg. After all, tax rates here correspond more or less to the EU average, which is to say they are very high, and can’t be called a haven by any stretch of the imagination. The Grand Duchy has nevertheless come under fire from the G20 because of its banking secrecy, so that it still gets lumped together with Bermuda and the Netherlands Antilles.”
Corriere del Ticino – Switzerland | 24/09/2009
The G20 summit in Pittsburgh won’t change global economic and financial policy, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino fears, noting that it takes place in a climate very different to that in London last April: “Back then the state of emergency produced the ‘miracle’ of an international community united by the struggle to avoid another Great Depression. … Because the G20 in Pittsburgh is not acting directly under the pressure of the crisis it lacks the aura of a conclave appointed to save the world and runs the danger of ending, like so many other international summits, in the formulation of a series of principles aimed at concealing the conspicuous divergences among the participants. The crisis is not over. On the contrary, in one of its many metamorphoses … today it affects the job market primarily, with a marked rise in unemployment. Even the economic upturn is not of a solid nature: it is effectively the result of tax incentives and expansive monetary policies the likes of which we have never seen before and which above all cannot go on forever.”
G20 summit begins with chaos as protesters clash with Pittsburgh police
A protest march over the G20 summit descended into chaos last night after demonstrators clashed with police.
Activists in Pittsburgh smashed squad car windows, threw bottles at officers and rolled rubbish bins towards them.
Protesters, many of whom wore masks, dark outfits and carried red and black anarchist flags, also set up street barricades using pallets and sheets of corrugated steel.
In a bid to quell the riot, officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowds, which numbered around 2,000 in total.
Demonstrators, who included anti-capitalists, anti-globalists and those simply angry about bank bail-outs, had earlier gathered in a park on the outskirts of the U.S. city with the intention of marching to the site of the summit.
But police chiefs in Pittsburgh authorised the crack down after claiming the gathering was unlawful because the demonstrators did not have a permit to march.
‘You must leave the immediate vicinity regardless of your purpose,’ police told protesters over bullhorns about an hour into the rally.
Police then cautioned that tear gas and other ‘non-lethal force’ would be deployed.
With protesters sent down various streets by police, the two sides eventually clashed in Lawrenceville, about a mile from where the G20 talks were taking place.
Demonstrators threw bottles and police responded by sending five to 10 canisters into the crowd. The sharp smell of the gas irritated the eyes and throats of protesters, causing them to flee.
Many complained later of breathing difficulties.
The protest followed the previous G20 summit in London, which saw some of the worst rioting ever to hit the city.
Previous G8 conferences have also been met with strong anti-capitalists demonstrations.
Protesters clash with police at G20
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