Calls for a new financial world order have increased with EU leaders
poised to meet US officials this weekend to demand a "Bretton
Woods II" reform of global institutions.
EU leaders have agreed to back British Prime Minister
Gordon
Brown's call to use the financial crisis as an opportunity
to swiftly overhaul and radically enhance the regulatory power
of global institutions.
The Prime Minister wants dozens of world leaders
to meet
for a major one-off summit where they would rewrite
the rules of international finance encompassing "very large
and very radical changes".
The original Bretton Woods agreement in 1944, spurred
by the depression of the 1930s and the second world war, created
the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and laid down
common standards for markets around the world. Now with the current
financial crisis EU leaders see another opportunity to enhance
global regulations on sovereign economies.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, backed Brown's
call, saying it was time to "rethink the world's financial
system and prevent any repetition" of the current crisis.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy made his
own call for a "new Bretton Woods" earlier
this month, arguing that the time has come to replace the "Anglo-Saxon"
model of "unrestrained markets".
Officials in Brussels indicated last night that a "Bretton
Woods II" summit could take place in New York as early as
next month, reports the Financial
Times.
In addition, Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John
Mack has also called
for a new global body to oversee the financial crisis,
warning that it is like nothing he's ever seen before.
The calls echo those of elite figures such as CFR
member Jeffrey Garten and Timothy Geithner, president
of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who have both recently
called for a "new global monetary authority", a de-facto
global financial dictatorship, operating across borders and forcing
nations and corporations to register and adhere to strict monitoring
and regulations.
Calls for a new financial world order have increased with EU leaders
poised to meet US officials this weekend to demand a "Bretton
Woods II" reform of global institutions.
