EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 230/1

Thursday 8 October 2009

G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh (24-25 September)

P7_TA(2009)0028

European Parliament resolution of 8 October 2009 on the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit of 24 and 25 September 2009

2010/C 230 E/01

The European Parliament,

having regard to the Leaders' Statement issued following the Pittsburgh Group of Twenty (G-20) Summit of 24 and 25 September 2009,

having regard to the Leaders' Statement (Global Plan for Recovery and Reform) issued following the London Group of Twenty (G-20) Summit and their declarations on ‘Strengthening the financial system’ and on ‘Delivering resources through the international financial institutions’, of 2 April 2009,

having regard to its resolution of 24 April 2009 on the London G-20 Summit of 2 April 2009 (1),

having regard to the Declaration following the Washington G-20 Summit on financial markets and the world economy, issued on 15 November 2008,

having regard to the Commission communication of 8 April 2009 entitled ‘Supporting developing countries in coping with the crisis’ (COM(2009)0160),

having regard to the Commission communication of 20 August 2009 entitled ‘GDP and beyond: measuring progress in a changing world’ (COM(2009)0433),

having regard to its resolutions regarding climate change, and in particular those of 4 February 2009 on 2050: The future begins today - Recommendations for the EU's future integrated policy on climate change (2) and of 11 March 2009 on an EU strategy for a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen and the adequate provision of financing for climate change policy (3),

having regard to the resolution of the International Labour Organization (ILO) of 19 June 2009 entitled ‘Recovering from the crisis: a Global Jobs Pact’,

having regard to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Member States' aid commitments to tackle hunger and poverty,

having regard to the statement issued following the informal meeting of the Member States' Heads of State or Government in Brussels on 17 September 2009 entitled ‘agreed language for the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit’,

having regard to the final report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress on alternative indicators,

having regard to Rule 110(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the process of economic recovery remains incomplete; whereas tackling rising unemployment remains a matter of the utmost importance and urgency; whereas, in particular, unemployment in the European Union at 9,5 % was its highest for ten years in July 2009 and whereas it is expected to rise further,

B. whereas the main challenge to be met in ensuring a return to economic growth is to restore private demand; whereas decisive progress on reforms is essential to achieving strong, balanced and sustainable economic growth,

C. whereas the present economic difficulties should be used as an opportunity to promote the Lisbon-Göteborg goals, to reiterate the commitment to fight unemployment and climate change, to reduce energy consumption, and to create an EU strategy which makes the transition from urgent crisis management to long-term sustainable economic recovery,

D. whereas major failures of regulation and supervision, reckless and irresponsible risk-taking by some financial institutions, and an over-supply of liquidity due to lax monetary policy in some parts of the world have contributed significantly to the current crisis,

E. whereas improved international coordination is essential to the economy, strong multilateral cooperation is needed to avoid any protectionist tendencies, and political inaction may tempt financial institutions to go back to ‘business as usual’,

F. whereas the G-20 leaders have a collective responsibility to mitigate the social impact of the crisis, especially in developing countries, which have been hard hit by indirect effects of the crisis,

G. whereas offshore jurisdictions have undermined financial regulation and constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of the MDGs,

General remarks: restoring growth

1. Welcomes the agreements reached at the G-20 Summit, including the commitment to avoid any premature withdrawal of stimulus; notes, however, with concern the rapid increases in public debt and budget deficits; stresses the importance of establishing sound public finances and of ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability in order to avoid imposing too heavy a burden on future generations; urges work to start on effective exit strategies immediately, in order to implement them as soon as the recovery permits;

2. Considers that new indicators and accounting frameworks for sustainable development that go beyond GDP are needed in order to measure well-being and the environmental impact of human activities and, therefore, as guidelines for the orientation and evaluation of global recovery;

3. Stresses that the immediate priorities must be to secure the strong and sustainable growth of the real economy, to ensure that the capital markets and lending function properly, to sustain and promote employment, and to protect people from the adverse impact of the crisis, paying particular attention to the poorest and most vulnerable;

4. Welcomes the fact that the G-20 Summit focused on global imbalances, which are at the root of the financial crisis; points out that if financial crises are to be prevented in the future, the underlying causes have to be addressed (including excessive trade deficits or surpluses), which have implications far beyond the realm of banking and financial regulation and institutional governance; considers that an effective multilateral response to the crisis must involve addressing the causes of exchange-rate imbalances and commodity price volatility within multilateral frameworks;

5. Regrets that the G-20 leaders did not assess the major failures of regulation and supervision which caused the financial crisis, so as to avoid a repetition of the same regulatory and supervisory mistakes and hence a similar crisis; regrets that the G-20 leaders made no progress with regard to financing the global fight against climate change;

6. Welcomes the reaffirmed commitment to meeting the MDGs and to achieving the official development assistance (ODA) pledges, including aid for trade, debt relief and the Gleneagles commitments;

7. Welcomes the G-20 leaders' agreement to work towards an international framework for financial transaction taxation and calls for speedy progress to ensure that the financial sector contributes fairly towards economic recovery and development since the costs of the crisis have, to date, been borne by taxpayers, other citizens, and public services;

Jobs, jobs, jobs

8. Welcomes the G-20 leaders' decision to put decent jobs at the heart of recovery and reform, and particularly welcomes the role agreed for the ILO;

9. Welcomes the G-20 leaders' commitment to tackling the employment crisis at international level and to strengthening support for the most vulnerable, as they are hit hardest by the crisis and in the greatest need of common action; welcomes, in this respect, the establishment of the Global Impact Vulnerability Alert System;

10. Demands that the commitment of the international community be translated into concrete action and that it be implemented in particular by supporting a strong ‘ecological jobs’ agenda;

11. Agrees on the importance of building an employment-oriented framework for future economic growth and of making the promotion of decent work central to the recovery plans;

12. Welcomes the ILO's Global Jobs Pact and calls for its urgent implementation; in particular, calls for the creation of an anti-cyclical jobs fund at international level and ambitious fiscal stimulus packages which support job creation and retention with efficient employment services and strong social policies to support vulnerable groups and ensure the purchasing power of minimum wages;

13. Insists that the ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions are crucial in this respect and demands that they be incorporated into WTO trade agreements; calls also for the further strengthening of cooperation among the key international organisations;

14. Supports the initiatives relating to new types of financial services such as microfinance, aimed at improving access to financial services for the poorest;

15. Insists on the importance of supporting social dialogue at all levels to avoid wage deflation and ensure that wage growth is in line with productivity growth;

Strengthening financial supervision and regulation

16. Welcomes the call on the G-20 Finance Ministers and governors of central banks to reach agreement on an international framework of reform in the following critical areas of the financial sector: — building high-quality capital and mitigating pro-cyclicality, — reforming compensation practices to support financial stability, — improving over-the-counter derivatives markets, — addressing cross-border resolutions and systemically important financial institutions, — reforming supervision in the financial sector, consistent with the global framework;

17. Approves the willingness to transform the system of global financial regulation and agrees that substantial progress has been made but believes that many of the changes agreed have not yet been fully implemented and that much more remains to be done;

18. Notes the G-20 leaders' pledge of complete supervision of all systemically important institutions and financial instruments; believes that a more centralised approach to financial market supervision is needed to prevent further crises and takes the view that the European Union needs to work towards a stronger financial supervisory architecture with the objective of a single financial supervisory authority;

19. Takes the view that international coordination must lead to the progressive upgrading of prudential rules globally to avoid regulatory arbitrage; underlines that progress made within the broader context of the G-20 consists of a ‘minimum harmonisation’ approach, which must not prevent the European Union from applying higher standards; welcomes in this context the fact that the European Union is more ambitious with regard to the scope and requirements of regulation and supervision, as demonstrated by legislation recently adopted or under discussion;

20. Welcomes the reaffirmation of the commitment to financial institutions with stricter rules on risk-taking, governance that aligns compensation with long-term performance, and overall greater transparency; warmly welcomes the commitment to adopt the Basel II framework by 2011 and to introduce a leverage ratio harmonised at international level; considers that those broad principles and objectives should be observed by all market players wherever the protection of investors, taxpayers or consumers is at stake;

21. Calls on the Commission to transpose quickly the commitments entered into at the G-20 Summit with regard to bonuses into binding EC law; calls on the G-20 leaders to give more teeth to their proposals in terms of building capital and reforming compensation practices and to ensure a consistent approach by supervisors worldwide when it comes to sanctions;

22. Takes the view that the principles of cross-border cooperation on crisis management need to be implemented urgently; calls on the Financial Stability Board to consult Parliament before approving the proposals that are to be adopted by the end of October 2010 for systemically important financial institutions;

23. Recognises that achievements in fighting non-cooperative jurisdictions (tax havens) have been substantial, but are not yet sufficient; encourages the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information to improve tax transparency and the exchange of information so that countries can fully enforce their tax law to protect their tax base; supports the G-20 in its use of measures to counter tax havens from March 2010 in cases of non-cooperation;

24. Welcomes the progress concerning bank secrecy and, in particular, the expansion of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information; notes, however, that several jurisdictions that have promised to implement standards have not yet delivered; calls for an effective system to prevent, detect and pursue tax evaders; highlights the importance of creating a standardised system of reporting;

25. Regrets that the G-20 leaders did not address the issue of moral hazard and that the link between prudential standards for systemic institutions and the costs of a failure of those institutions has been postponed until October 2010; calls for proposals to tackle restructuring and for a review of financial sector business models in order to tackle the ‘too big to fail’ issue;

Strengthening our global financial institutions

26. Welcomes the G-20 leaders' plan to reform the IMF and the World Bank and calls for those reforms to start as soon as possible; calls for a far-reaching reform of global economic and financial governance; supports the improvement of the IMF and World Bank as a core element of the effort to improve the credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness of those institutions; calls for the representation of developing countries in international financial institutions to be improved; welcomes the commitment to a shift in quota share to countries with dynamic emerging market and developing countries; recalls the importance of avoiding pro-cyclical policies in order to find the path to recovery;

27. Calls for the creation of a mechanism to transfer some of the IMF member states' allotted new allocations of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to Low Income Countries, which could double the medium-term concessional lending capacity of the IMF;

28. Welcomes the G-20 leaders' commitments to an open global economy; considers that the revival of world trade is essential to restoring global growth; in this respect reiterates its stance against any form of protectionism and continues to press for progress in ensuring market access which does not disadvantage developing countries, by eliminating indiscriminate tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as respect for rules for free and fair trade; remains determined to seek a global, ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round, consistent with its mandate, and calls upon leaders not to forget the ultimate development goal of this round;

29. Welcomes the G-20 leaders' acknowledgement of the importance of a more sustainable global economy; emphasises that a binding agreement on climate change at the forthcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen (UNFCCC conference) is critical; stresses, however, that the G-20 leaders should recognise the broad nature of global sustainability challenges; calls for G-20 Finance Ministers to mobilise resources to support near-term climate action in developing countries as a key component of the collective response to the global economic crisis;

30. Stresses the fact that all the commitments entered into by the G-20 leaders must be respected in full, put in place rapidly and fleshed out, at national and international level, in order to rebuild confidence and maximise economic recovery;

31. Considers that the EU representation at the G-20 meetings should be the object of an in-depth discussion between the three major EU institutions and the Member States; is convinced that the European Union has to agree on a common position in international forums, particularly as regards G-20 meetings, and insists that there has to be a more coherent representation of the European Union in international negotiations;

32. Highlights the importance of an agreement on funds to help poorer countries adapt to climate change at the UNFCCC conference and of the provision of strong and predictable financing mechanisms in addition to ODA; regrets that this issue was postponed to the UNFCCC conference, and reiterates that the European Union should contribute its fair share to financing for mitigation and adaptation, corresponding to scientific research findings on the severity of climate change and the scale of its costs;

33. Draws attention to the persistent food crisis and welcomes the decision to endorse a World Bank food initiative; calls on donor countries to ensure transparency and accountability regarding food aid distribution;

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34. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the European Central Bank, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the governments and parliaments of the G-20 States and the International Monetary Fund.

(1) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2009)0330.

(2) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2009)0042.

(3) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2009)0121.