PARIS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Within a week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a whirlwind visit to Germany, Britain, Russia and Brussels where EU leaders just had their summit, trying to tune up and harmonize European voices on international economic governance.
The attempt was made right before the G20 and G8 summits on economic governance.
Regarding bilateral issues of political ties, security consensus and business contracts, the French president got almost all he wanted, but in terms of Europe-wide economic governance and global financial regulation, Sarkozy had both gains and losses.
TURNING UP ACCORD
President Sarkozy made Berlin the first stop of his visit.
After months of rifts over financial regulations in Europe and national austerity measures, Sarkozy succeeded in reaching concrete consensus with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on global banking levies and financial transaction taxes in the postponed meeting.
With this common basis between the traditional European motors, the EU council meeting on the following day agreed on publishing "stress tests" of leading European banks by end-July, reflecting a pillar proposition in a joint letter by Sarkozy and Merkel to EU President Herman van Rompuy.
Just days before the G20 and G8 summits in Canada, Sarkozy rapidly stretched his visit to Britain and even outside the EU bloc to Russia.
Last Friday, Sarkozy also became the first French president to mark General Charles de Gaulle's speech date, a routine ceremony in France.
He was warmly welcomed by Prince Charles and accompanied by British Prime Minister David Cameron to pay tribute to soldiers of both countries. Cameron hailed the "great relationship" with France, which was well illustrated by a full-ceremonial troop parade.
Sarkozy's Saturday visit to Russia was highlighted by signing business contracts ranging from natural gas (GDF Suez) to space technology (Arianespace), amid strong appeals for closer ties on global economic arena.
The G20 summit should think about a new financial system, even a new international currency system, to replace the outdated one based on the Bretton Woods conference, Sarkozy told a joint conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who voiced his support and went even further by calling for more currencies as reserves other than the euro and the dollar.
TURNING DOWN RIFT
Clear rifts and nuance difference were played down during Sarkozy's visits.
Seeking for common ground in Europe, the French president yielded to Merkel's insistence that closer "economic government" should involve all 27members of the EU instead of just the 16 members of the eurozone, which means the economic "secretariat" advocated by French officials gave way to "a common vision" between France and Germany.
Sarkozy said he was convinced in a rarely low-key speech at a packed news conference in Berlin.
Most Vision.
European leaders, especially EU President van Rompuy, didn't buy France's "economic government"
"We must avoid dividing lines ... There is no need to create new institutions," he said at the European Council summit following the Sarkozy-Merkel meeting.
Besides the concession on the economic secretariat idea, French officials said that France and Germany would like to make more compromises on issues of restrained budget and tighter economic governance across Europe.
During his Paris tour, the British prime minister has expressed his reservations about the eurozone crisis, and even insisted on staying outside eurozone forever at the Brussels summit.
Britain and Germany's military presence in Afghanistan, their historical friendship and even the World Cup, obviously diluted the economic issues, but their top leaders' better-than-before personal ties are definitely a favourable start.
Franco-Russian cooperation focused more on business and trade ties, but their warship deals aroused criticism within the NATO bloc.
Without mentioning the value of over 20 bilateral contracts, the two leaders underlined the importance of G20, calling it "a group of 20 wealthy and developing nations."
BRACING FOR G20
On the resilience after the global economic crisis, France, as one of the main engines of European economy, is eager to take the lead in designing a new international financial system, supposedly a major task of the G20 talk in Canada this week.
However, Europe was lagging behind the global recovery and facing great risk in the wake of the Greece debt crisis, which made a coordinated platform in Europe imperative.
It was against this backdrop that Sarkozy's whirlpool visit to major European countries not only sought ways for faster recovery but also tried to sell France's financial proposals to floor a potential new system, which could include European stabilizer fund, global banking tax, stricter economic governance and others.
It seems that the French president is going to Toronto with at least a target in mind: if it misses the G20 summit in June, France will continue to work for the similar, if not bigger target after the country takes over the rotating presidency of the G20 and G8 in November.
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