The adverse impact of capitalism on social and economic growth requires a mind shift in socialism, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said today.
"The global crisis of capitalism and imperialism, which is negatively affecting growth, widening social inequality, increasing levels of poverty and worsening [un]employment figures, needs a sharpened, radical shift in the approach the Socialist International takes," he said in Cape Town.
Speaking at the opening of the 24th Congress of the Socialist International (SI), he said debates had to focus on the reform of the organisation. Poverty was no longer just a problem for developing nations, but also now becoming a crisis in the first world. "Therefore this leaves us with no choice but to review, analyse and rethink the impact of the global economic crisis on society and the toiling masses of the world." He said there were various concerns sociality parties needed to confront. These included a need to strive for conflict resolution, while securing conditions of development.
Motlanthe's sentiments were echoed by the SI's president and former Greek prime minister George Papandreou. Innovative and alternative solutions were needed in a changing world, he said. "This human ingenuity needs to be accompanied by political and democratic will to make these changes... That will, my friends, has been lacking in Europe and around the world."
Papandreou defended the SI's existence, saying leftist parties were important to achieve, among others, peace, justice, good governance, equality, growth and employment for all. He warned against attributing blame for the global economic crisis. "We point fingers at each other rather than reach out our hands and lift each other up."
Papandreou lamented the fact that immigrants were being held responsible for the economic troubles in several countries. He said international co-ordination was needed now more than ever. "We've seen this spectacular rise in nationalism over the years, and at the same time we've noticed a terrifying rise in racism, prejudice."
Source: Times Live
Showing posts with label Socialist International. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socialist International. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
XXIV Congress of the Socialist International
The Congress, which takes place every four years, brings together heads of government, leaders and delegates from the member parties of the SI alongside invited guests. This year’s Congress will be the first in the history of the International to take place in Africa, hosted by the African National Congress (ANC).
The Congress takes place under the heading ‘For a new internationalism and a new culture of solidarity’ with its agenda focused on four key themes, which are central to the concerns of the global social democratic movement, building on our message to citizens across the globe.
The themes are as follows: (1) For an economy with jobs, growth and social protection: the social democratic response to the financial crisis; (2) The struggle for rights and freedoms: strengthening representative democracy and gaining new democracies in the world; (3) For a common road to peace, sustainability and cooperation: the need to secure multilateralism; and (4) For a new internationalism and a new culture of solidarity among people and between nations. Discussions on each of these themes will incorporate keynote addresses, panel discussions and contributions from delegates.
The Members of the Socialist International Commission for a Sustainable World Society
Source: Socialist International
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Durban and the search for climate justice
The COP17/CMP7 summit in Durban which concluded on 11 December reached decisions that can move us towards a legally binding agreement to halt and reverse the path we are currently taking towards catastrophic climate change, but the hopes for a substantial deal on emissions reductions have not been realised. The international community must find an accord with the ambition to limit the global temperature rise to a maximum of 2°C or 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, which remains the only possible solution to the dangers faced by the world.
In establishing the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, the conference rightly concluded that any future agreement on climate change must be legally binding, referred to officially as "an agreed outcome with legal force". It is now more vital than ever that negotiations continue without delay and in a spirit of compromise and understanding in order to make these goals a reality, as the cost of postponing such an agreement grows with every passing year.
With Durban, the framework is also now in place for the operation of the Green Climate Fund with the approval of its Governing Instrument, although long-term sources of financing for the Fund have yet to be finalised. The decision launching the Fund addresses the need to balance the allocation of resources between adaptation and mitigation activities, which is in line with the Socialist International’s call in Johannesburg at the end of October this year.
A positive step is also the commitment that a mechanism for technology transfer will be fully operational by 2012 to "promote and enhance the research, development, and deployment and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries".
We congratulate the South African hosts for showing the leadership and perseverance to obtain these and other agreements, but we are under no illusions that there is much hard work ahead of us all.
It must be acknowledged at the same time that some of the commitments we were hoping to see in Durban on deepening and formalising pledged cuts in emissions, as outlined in the declaration of the Socialist International made in Johannesburg, have not been achieved. Equally, much progress needs to be made on policies for the protection of forests, developing renewable technologies and establishing systems for measurement, reporting and verification, and the decisions reached lack the necessary urgency to effectively address the case of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The international community must persevere within the framework of the UNFCCC to come together in a common search for solutions to the greatest threat that currently faces the planet. Multilateralism continues to be the only way forward, with the vast majority of the nations on the planet wishing to see political will match the scientific requirements and no longer willing to accept ‘pledge and review’, with the direct involvement of political leaders in the process crucial to deliver the responses needed.
The Socialist International will continue to place the issue of climate change at the heart of its agenda, starting with the forthcoming Council meeting to take place in San José, Costa Rica in January 2012 and continuing with the work and activities of its Commission for a Sustainable World Society as we head towards Rio+20, COP18 and beyond.
Source: Socialist International
In establishing the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, the conference rightly concluded that any future agreement on climate change must be legally binding, referred to officially as "an agreed outcome with legal force". It is now more vital than ever that negotiations continue without delay and in a spirit of compromise and understanding in order to make these goals a reality, as the cost of postponing such an agreement grows with every passing year.
With Durban, the framework is also now in place for the operation of the Green Climate Fund with the approval of its Governing Instrument, although long-term sources of financing for the Fund have yet to be finalised. The decision launching the Fund addresses the need to balance the allocation of resources between adaptation and mitigation activities, which is in line with the Socialist International’s call in Johannesburg at the end of October this year.
A positive step is also the commitment that a mechanism for technology transfer will be fully operational by 2012 to "promote and enhance the research, development, and deployment and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries".
We congratulate the South African hosts for showing the leadership and perseverance to obtain these and other agreements, but we are under no illusions that there is much hard work ahead of us all.
It must be acknowledged at the same time that some of the commitments we were hoping to see in Durban on deepening and formalising pledged cuts in emissions, as outlined in the declaration of the Socialist International made in Johannesburg, have not been achieved. Equally, much progress needs to be made on policies for the protection of forests, developing renewable technologies and establishing systems for measurement, reporting and verification, and the decisions reached lack the necessary urgency to effectively address the case of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The international community must persevere within the framework of the UNFCCC to come together in a common search for solutions to the greatest threat that currently faces the planet. Multilateralism continues to be the only way forward, with the vast majority of the nations on the planet wishing to see political will match the scientific requirements and no longer willing to accept ‘pledge and review’, with the direct involvement of political leaders in the process crucial to deliver the responses needed.
The Socialist International will continue to place the issue of climate change at the heart of its agenda, starting with the forthcoming Council meeting to take place in San José, Costa Rica in January 2012 and continuing with the work and activities of its Commission for a Sustainable World Society as we head towards Rio+20, COP18 and beyond.
Source: Socialist International
Monday, November 3, 2008
Statement of the Socialist International Commission on Global Financial Issues, meeting in Vienna, Austria
It is today beyond dispute that the current global financial crisis is the worst in the last twenty-five years and may well be the worst since the Great Depression.
A first response to the crisis was to bail out financial institutions in the developed economies, at an enormous cost for tax payers, with stark differences of opinion on the best way to proceed. Progressive forces and governments moved for accountability, transparency and guarantees for the average citizen, so they would not become the victim of the reckless acts and irresponsibility of those who provoked the crisis.
From the very beginning, at the centre of our concerns have been people’s jobs, housing, pensions, access to health and education services, in short the livelihood and social protection of citizens severely threatened by this crisis.
The social democratic vision of the economy and financial markets is that they should serve the citizens of our society. Financial markets are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. It is not necessarily the case that what is good for Wall Street or other financial centres is good for the rest of the economy. Moreover, trickle down economics - the notion that helping those at the top will benefit all - has been repeatedly rejected.
Four principles continue to guide the social democratic response: solutions to the crisis must be consistent with basic values of social justice and social solidarity as well as basic notions of fairness. The bonds of social solidarity must go across national boundaries; we cannot take actions which help ourselves at the expense of those in the developing world. They must reflect an understanding of the necessary balance between government and markets. Fourthly, any response must respect basic principles of democratic due process, including full transparency.
These principles take on a greater sense of urgency today, as what started as a financial crisis has become very quickly one of the real economy, with the threat of recession a reality around the world, and as we enter a new phase where emerging and developing economies are suffering the consequences of this crisis as well.
Lack of financial regulation triggered the crisis, while fiscal weakness and large public debts have hindered many governments’ ability to formulate policies to tackle it. At the same time, serious deficiencies in the global financial system have also been exposed, such as the limitations of the Bretton Woods institutions to guard against macroeconomic imbalances and provide liquidity to those economies in need; inadequate supervision of financial markets in developed economies and under-representation of emerging economies in the governance of the main multilateral lending institutions.
We will not be able to restore confidence in our financial markets unless we change their behaviour, through regulation. And regulation must be comprehensive. Too often, the regulatory process has been captured by those who were supposed to be regulated. The voice of those injured as a result of inadequate regulation—pensioners who lose their life savings, homeowners who lose their homes, workers who lose their jobs—has to be paramount. Such regulation could encourage real innovation, not the kind that has marked financial markets in recent years, like the derivatives that were supposed to manage risk but instead created it; but innovations that might allow average citizens to remain in their homes in the face of the economic vicissitudes which they face. Banks were allowed to become too big to fail and that was dangerous for all of us.
Given that the restructuring of global finance will take time, the Commission on Global Financial Issues proposes five immediate programmes to protect people today in countries most directly affected by the crisis:
The creation of a Social Protection Fund to assist developing countries that have inadequate or underfunded social protection schemes to set up social security systems to provide minimum social protections, including provisions for the unemployed, for health, and for retirees;
The creation of a Small Enterprises Development Fund to facilitate credit and capital flows to small businesses, as a sector which provides the major source of employment and a large contribution to the GDP, and assisting their technological development and expanding decent work;
The creation of a Financing Infrastructure Fund to help stimulate the economy. Such a fund would simultaneously stimulate the economy in the short run and help our societies meet the long run challenges they face; some funds might be directed, for instance, towards helping meet the challenges posed by global warming; others might be directed at the informal economy from which so many poor earn their living, for example with local programmes for small power plants, rural roads and markets, and technology parks.
The Commission equally supports the immediate and urgent establishment by the International Monetary Fund of a short-term liquidity line for emerging and developing economies which face a liquidity crisis caused not by deficient domestic policies but by sources of financing being severed due to the systemic crisis, as internationally active banks hoard liquidity, capital is repatriated to financial centres and rich countries’ GDP contract. This liquidity facility must allow access to countries by broadening the eligibility criteria in a fair way, so giving support to hundreds of millions of people who are now unwitting victims of this crisis; and it should be provided without the severe conditionalities often imposed in the past.
New sources of funding, and new lending facilities, have to be given urgent consideration. There is a growing consensus that there are insufficient financial resources in multilateral institutions and regional development banks to provide adequate support for the many economies that may face difficulties. Since the sources of liquid funds in the world today are in countries that have inadequate representation within the IMF, the World Bank, and other existing multilateral institutions, it will be imperative to create new governance structures for these lending facilities that are more representative. These new governance structures should be thought of as a precursor to the more fundamental reforms in the global economic governance that have long been demanded, and may entail more active involvement of other international institutions with wider and more diverse representation, including the various agencies of the UN family, such as UNDP and the International Labour Organisation.
Transparent and sustainable financial governance requires robust regulation of the world of finances which, as stated by the Presidium of the Socialist International, should include the establishment of a World Financial Organisation. The nature and extent of such regulation should itself emerge from global, democratic processes. Well designed regulation should focus on financial institutions and products whose failure puts the entire economy at risk. Elements will include, but not be limited to, demands for more transparency, restrictions on compensation schemes, especially those that encourage short sighted and excessively risky behaviour, restrictions on conflicts of interest, oversight of credit rating agencies, and control of other aspects of the behaviour of financial institutions that have imposed large social costs, without commensurate social benefits. Deficiencies in corporate governance that have given rise to compensation schemes that have benefited corporate managers at the expense of other stakeholders, including even shareholders, need to be given urgent consideration. Tax havens should be ended; and, a tax on short-term transactions considered.
There are other reforms to the international financial system that must be addressed if we are to have a more stable, prosperous, and equitable global economy. These include a reform of the global reserve system, better macro-economic coordination, with more attention paid to the consequences of policies for unemployment, and better ways of dealing with cross border bankruptcies and defaults, including those of sovereigns. The system in which countercyclical monetary and fiscal policies were pursued in the advanced industrial countries while pro-cyclical policies were imposed on developing countries has contributed to global volatility and imposed huge costs on developing countries. The current crisis has given new urgency to these long delayed reforms.
The reform process itself must be open, transparent, inclusive, and democratic; this means that the reform of the global regulatory framework or the way in which financial markets are regulated and supervised must take into account opinions and views of all. For this reason, we propose that discussion about reforms to the regulatory and financial framework for private markets be broadened to include the emerging economies, while at the same time providing a role for contributions from existing institutions that are less representative, such as the Financial Stability Forum.
Social democrats have always stood for markets with social responsibility. Markets that put citizens first. For a role for government in the economy with rules and regulation in the market. 75 years ago John Maynard Keynes explained how government action could help the economy recover from the Great Depression. Today his ideas have become part of conventional wisdom. Social democratic policies and their proposals for preventing another such calamity, as the one we are living through today, will in time also be accepted as conventional wisdom. But time is of the essence: the quicker governments can act, the shorter will be our downturn, and the fewer the number of innocent bystanders whose lives and dreams will be dashed in this tragic episode. We are living in a man-made crisis that should never be allowed to happen again. Our Commission is committed to contributing to that end, by constructing a roadmap, in which democracy, inclusion, fairness and green development will find a place in a new political, social and economic vision required for these times.
Source: Socialist International
A first response to the crisis was to bail out financial institutions in the developed economies, at an enormous cost for tax payers, with stark differences of opinion on the best way to proceed. Progressive forces and governments moved for accountability, transparency and guarantees for the average citizen, so they would not become the victim of the reckless acts and irresponsibility of those who provoked the crisis.
From the very beginning, at the centre of our concerns have been people’s jobs, housing, pensions, access to health and education services, in short the livelihood and social protection of citizens severely threatened by this crisis.
The social democratic vision of the economy and financial markets is that they should serve the citizens of our society. Financial markets are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. It is not necessarily the case that what is good for Wall Street or other financial centres is good for the rest of the economy. Moreover, trickle down economics - the notion that helping those at the top will benefit all - has been repeatedly rejected.
Four principles continue to guide the social democratic response: solutions to the crisis must be consistent with basic values of social justice and social solidarity as well as basic notions of fairness. The bonds of social solidarity must go across national boundaries; we cannot take actions which help ourselves at the expense of those in the developing world. They must reflect an understanding of the necessary balance between government and markets. Fourthly, any response must respect basic principles of democratic due process, including full transparency.
These principles take on a greater sense of urgency today, as what started as a financial crisis has become very quickly one of the real economy, with the threat of recession a reality around the world, and as we enter a new phase where emerging and developing economies are suffering the consequences of this crisis as well.
Lack of financial regulation triggered the crisis, while fiscal weakness and large public debts have hindered many governments’ ability to formulate policies to tackle it. At the same time, serious deficiencies in the global financial system have also been exposed, such as the limitations of the Bretton Woods institutions to guard against macroeconomic imbalances and provide liquidity to those economies in need; inadequate supervision of financial markets in developed economies and under-representation of emerging economies in the governance of the main multilateral lending institutions.
We will not be able to restore confidence in our financial markets unless we change their behaviour, through regulation. And regulation must be comprehensive. Too often, the regulatory process has been captured by those who were supposed to be regulated. The voice of those injured as a result of inadequate regulation—pensioners who lose their life savings, homeowners who lose their homes, workers who lose their jobs—has to be paramount. Such regulation could encourage real innovation, not the kind that has marked financial markets in recent years, like the derivatives that were supposed to manage risk but instead created it; but innovations that might allow average citizens to remain in their homes in the face of the economic vicissitudes which they face. Banks were allowed to become too big to fail and that was dangerous for all of us.
Given that the restructuring of global finance will take time, the Commission on Global Financial Issues proposes five immediate programmes to protect people today in countries most directly affected by the crisis:
The creation of a Social Protection Fund to assist developing countries that have inadequate or underfunded social protection schemes to set up social security systems to provide minimum social protections, including provisions for the unemployed, for health, and for retirees;
The creation of a Small Enterprises Development Fund to facilitate credit and capital flows to small businesses, as a sector which provides the major source of employment and a large contribution to the GDP, and assisting their technological development and expanding decent work;
The creation of a Financing Infrastructure Fund to help stimulate the economy. Such a fund would simultaneously stimulate the economy in the short run and help our societies meet the long run challenges they face; some funds might be directed, for instance, towards helping meet the challenges posed by global warming; others might be directed at the informal economy from which so many poor earn their living, for example with local programmes for small power plants, rural roads and markets, and technology parks.
The Commission equally supports the immediate and urgent establishment by the International Monetary Fund of a short-term liquidity line for emerging and developing economies which face a liquidity crisis caused not by deficient domestic policies but by sources of financing being severed due to the systemic crisis, as internationally active banks hoard liquidity, capital is repatriated to financial centres and rich countries’ GDP contract. This liquidity facility must allow access to countries by broadening the eligibility criteria in a fair way, so giving support to hundreds of millions of people who are now unwitting victims of this crisis; and it should be provided without the severe conditionalities often imposed in the past.
New sources of funding, and new lending facilities, have to be given urgent consideration. There is a growing consensus that there are insufficient financial resources in multilateral institutions and regional development banks to provide adequate support for the many economies that may face difficulties. Since the sources of liquid funds in the world today are in countries that have inadequate representation within the IMF, the World Bank, and other existing multilateral institutions, it will be imperative to create new governance structures for these lending facilities that are more representative. These new governance structures should be thought of as a precursor to the more fundamental reforms in the global economic governance that have long been demanded, and may entail more active involvement of other international institutions with wider and more diverse representation, including the various agencies of the UN family, such as UNDP and the International Labour Organisation.
Transparent and sustainable financial governance requires robust regulation of the world of finances which, as stated by the Presidium of the Socialist International, should include the establishment of a World Financial Organisation. The nature and extent of such regulation should itself emerge from global, democratic processes. Well designed regulation should focus on financial institutions and products whose failure puts the entire economy at risk. Elements will include, but not be limited to, demands for more transparency, restrictions on compensation schemes, especially those that encourage short sighted and excessively risky behaviour, restrictions on conflicts of interest, oversight of credit rating agencies, and control of other aspects of the behaviour of financial institutions that have imposed large social costs, without commensurate social benefits. Deficiencies in corporate governance that have given rise to compensation schemes that have benefited corporate managers at the expense of other stakeholders, including even shareholders, need to be given urgent consideration. Tax havens should be ended; and, a tax on short-term transactions considered.
There are other reforms to the international financial system that must be addressed if we are to have a more stable, prosperous, and equitable global economy. These include a reform of the global reserve system, better macro-economic coordination, with more attention paid to the consequences of policies for unemployment, and better ways of dealing with cross border bankruptcies and defaults, including those of sovereigns. The system in which countercyclical monetary and fiscal policies were pursued in the advanced industrial countries while pro-cyclical policies were imposed on developing countries has contributed to global volatility and imposed huge costs on developing countries. The current crisis has given new urgency to these long delayed reforms.
The reform process itself must be open, transparent, inclusive, and democratic; this means that the reform of the global regulatory framework or the way in which financial markets are regulated and supervised must take into account opinions and views of all. For this reason, we propose that discussion about reforms to the regulatory and financial framework for private markets be broadened to include the emerging economies, while at the same time providing a role for contributions from existing institutions that are less representative, such as the Financial Stability Forum.
Social democrats have always stood for markets with social responsibility. Markets that put citizens first. For a role for government in the economy with rules and regulation in the market. 75 years ago John Maynard Keynes explained how government action could help the economy recover from the Great Depression. Today his ideas have become part of conventional wisdom. Social democratic policies and their proposals for preventing another such calamity, as the one we are living through today, will in time also be accepted as conventional wisdom. But time is of the essence: the quicker governments can act, the shorter will be our downturn, and the fewer the number of innocent bystanders whose lives and dreams will be dashed in this tragic episode. We are living in a man-made crisis that should never be allowed to happen again. Our Commission is committed to contributing to that end, by constructing a roadmap, in which democracy, inclusion, fairness and green development will find a place in a new political, social and economic vision required for these times.
Source: Socialist International
Tackling the global financial crisis: For a new relationship between government and the market
First meeting of the Socialist International Commission on Global Financial Issues, Vienna, Austria
The SI Commission on Global Financial Issues met in Vienna on 3 November, for the first of a series of meetings, and in advance of the Socialist International Council in Mexico on 17-18 November where tackling the global financial crisis will be at the top of the agenda.
Hosted by the Chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer, a member of the Commission, the discussions highlighted the principles guiding the global social democratic response to the world financial crisis and, given the new phase of the crisis affecting emerging and developing countries and the urgency of the situation of many people around the world today, the Commission set out five concrete initiatives to assist those directly affected by the crisis.
Calling for a new relationship between government and the market, the Commission underlined that confidence would not be restored in the financial markets unless behaviour was changed through comprehensive and robust regulation, accompanied by far-reaching reforms made to the international financial system.
Concerned for people who are unwitting victims of the crisis, losing their homes, jobs, pensions and social services, the Commission put forward the creation of a Social Protection Fund to aid developing countries with inadequate social protection schemes; the creation of a Small Enterprises Development Fund to support small business, as a sector which employs the majority of workers, contributes to the GDP and can expand decent work; the creation of a Financing Infrastructure Fund to help stimulate the economy; support for a short-term liquidity line for emerging and developing countries to be immediately and urgently established by the IMF; tackling the issue of insufficient financial resources in multilateral institutions and regional development banks by seeking new sources of funding and lending facilities, as well as more fundamental reforms in the global economic governance. These proposals emanating from the discussion were expanded upon in a statement of the Commission, called “For a new relationship between government and the market".
The Commission, established by the Socialist International Presidium at its meeting at the United Nations, New York, at the end of September, brings together political leaders, ministers and experts from all continents, and its members include: Professor Joseph Stiglitz from the United States, Nobel laureate and Chair of the Commission; Anatoly Aksakov, Member of the Board of the Russian Federation Central Bank and Member of Russian State Duma, For a Just Russia Party; Dr Héctor Alexander, Minister of Economy and Finances of Panama, Democratic Revolutionary Party, PRD; Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Founder of the Party for Democratic Revolution, PRD, Mexico and Honorary President of the Socialist International; Elio Di Rupo, Leader of the Socialist Party, PS, Belgium, and SI Vice-President; Alfred Gusenbauer, Chancellor of Austria and SI Vice-President; Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish Social Democratic Party and SI Vice-President; Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Former Prime Minister of Mali and Leader of the Assembly for Mali, RPM; Pia Locatelli; President of Socialist International Women; Fathallah Oualalou, Former Minister of Finance, Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco; Professor Shri Arjun K. Sengupta, Member of Parliament, Indian National Congress Party; Antolin Sánchez Presedo, Member of the European Parliament, Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, PSOE, Spain; Peer Steinbrück, Federal Finance Minister of Germany and Deputy Chair of the Social Democratic Party; Andres Velasco, Minister of Finance, Chile; and Fozia Wahab, Member of the Pakistan National Assembly and Chair of the National Finance Committee of the Parliament. A member of the Commission from France will be appointed following the Socialist Party’s upcoming Congress.
George Papandreou, President of the Socialist International and Luis Ayala, Secretary General of the Socialist International, participated alongside the Commission members who took part in this first meeting. Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, joined the discussions as an invited guest. And from Austria, Christoph Matznetter, Secretary of State, Federal Ministry of Finance; and, Andreas Schieder, Secretary of State, Civil Service and Administrative Reform, also attended.
A progress report on the Commission’s work will be given by Commission members at the upcoming SI Council meeting in Mexico which takes the global social democratic response to the crisis as its main theme. The Council discussions, incorporating the entire membership of the organisation, will address this issue and a special document prepared by the Chair of the Commission on the social democratic principles towards a new financial architecture will be presented for adoption.
Future meetings of the Commission are envisaged, including seminars with academics and experts and a major Conference in the second half of 2009, to contribute to constructing a roadmap to deal with this crisis, in which democracy, inclusion, fairness, green development and protection for the environment will find their rightful place.
CRISE FINANCIERE MONDIALE : NOTE POUR L’INTERNATIONALE SOCIALISTE
Source: Socialist International
The SI Commission on Global Financial Issues met in Vienna on 3 November, for the first of a series of meetings, and in advance of the Socialist International Council in Mexico on 17-18 November where tackling the global financial crisis will be at the top of the agenda.
Hosted by the Chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer, a member of the Commission, the discussions highlighted the principles guiding the global social democratic response to the world financial crisis and, given the new phase of the crisis affecting emerging and developing countries and the urgency of the situation of many people around the world today, the Commission set out five concrete initiatives to assist those directly affected by the crisis.
Calling for a new relationship between government and the market, the Commission underlined that confidence would not be restored in the financial markets unless behaviour was changed through comprehensive and robust regulation, accompanied by far-reaching reforms made to the international financial system.
Concerned for people who are unwitting victims of the crisis, losing their homes, jobs, pensions and social services, the Commission put forward the creation of a Social Protection Fund to aid developing countries with inadequate social protection schemes; the creation of a Small Enterprises Development Fund to support small business, as a sector which employs the majority of workers, contributes to the GDP and can expand decent work; the creation of a Financing Infrastructure Fund to help stimulate the economy; support for a short-term liquidity line for emerging and developing countries to be immediately and urgently established by the IMF; tackling the issue of insufficient financial resources in multilateral institutions and regional development banks by seeking new sources of funding and lending facilities, as well as more fundamental reforms in the global economic governance. These proposals emanating from the discussion were expanded upon in a statement of the Commission, called “For a new relationship between government and the market".
The Commission, established by the Socialist International Presidium at its meeting at the United Nations, New York, at the end of September, brings together political leaders, ministers and experts from all continents, and its members include: Professor Joseph Stiglitz from the United States, Nobel laureate and Chair of the Commission; Anatoly Aksakov, Member of the Board of the Russian Federation Central Bank and Member of Russian State Duma, For a Just Russia Party; Dr Héctor Alexander, Minister of Economy and Finances of Panama, Democratic Revolutionary Party, PRD; Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Founder of the Party for Democratic Revolution, PRD, Mexico and Honorary President of the Socialist International; Elio Di Rupo, Leader of the Socialist Party, PS, Belgium, and SI Vice-President; Alfred Gusenbauer, Chancellor of Austria and SI Vice-President; Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish Social Democratic Party and SI Vice-President; Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Former Prime Minister of Mali and Leader of the Assembly for Mali, RPM; Pia Locatelli; President of Socialist International Women; Fathallah Oualalou, Former Minister of Finance, Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco; Professor Shri Arjun K. Sengupta, Member of Parliament, Indian National Congress Party; Antolin Sánchez Presedo, Member of the European Parliament, Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, PSOE, Spain; Peer Steinbrück, Federal Finance Minister of Germany and Deputy Chair of the Social Democratic Party; Andres Velasco, Minister of Finance, Chile; and Fozia Wahab, Member of the Pakistan National Assembly and Chair of the National Finance Committee of the Parliament. A member of the Commission from France will be appointed following the Socialist Party’s upcoming Congress.
George Papandreou, President of the Socialist International and Luis Ayala, Secretary General of the Socialist International, participated alongside the Commission members who took part in this first meeting. Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, joined the discussions as an invited guest. And from Austria, Christoph Matznetter, Secretary of State, Federal Ministry of Finance; and, Andreas Schieder, Secretary of State, Civil Service and Administrative Reform, also attended.
A progress report on the Commission’s work will be given by Commission members at the upcoming SI Council meeting in Mexico which takes the global social democratic response to the crisis as its main theme. The Council discussions, incorporating the entire membership of the organisation, will address this issue and a special document prepared by the Chair of the Commission on the social democratic principles towards a new financial architecture will be presented for adoption.
Future meetings of the Commission are envisaged, including seminars with academics and experts and a major Conference in the second half of 2009, to contribute to constructing a roadmap to deal with this crisis, in which democracy, inclusion, fairness, green development and protection for the environment will find their rightful place.
TESTIMONY BEFORE THE US CONGRESS HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES
Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University, 21 October 2008
Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University, 21 October 2008
CRISE FINANCIERE MONDIALE : NOTE POUR L’INTERNATIONALE SOCIALISTE
Elio Di Rupo, President of the Socialist Party, PS, Belgium
- La crise financière et les limites du libéralisme non régulé
- La nouvelle crise et les prémisses d'un monde multipolaire
- Le Maroc face aux effets de la crise
Fathallah Oualalou, Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco
- La crise financière et les limites du libéralisme non régulé
- La nouvelle crise et les prémisses d'un monde multipolaire
- Le Maroc face aux effets de la crise
Fathallah Oualalou, Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco
REFORMING AND STRENGTHENING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Andrés Velasco, Minister of Finance, Chile
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES AND RESPONSES TO THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
Discussion paper for the Chief Executives Board (CEB) of the United Nations, presented by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, New York, October 2008
Discussion paper for the Chief Executives Board (CEB) of the United Nations, presented by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, New York, October 2008
Source: Socialist International
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