PES launches global talks on financial market reform
25 June 2008
The PES launched this week a new global dialogue on financial market reform.
The PES Financial Market Network, meeting for the first time on Monday, brings together politicians, trade unionists and academic experts from Europe, the USA and Japan who want to bring the liberalized global financial market under better regulation.
The launch of the Network marks the stepping up of efforts to manage financial globalization – putting discussions between progressive decision-makers and experts from the world’s largest (democratic) economies - EU, US and Japan - on a more formalized and regular footing.
The Network’s inaugural meeting, held in Brussels with over 50 participants (see list below), featured a wide-ranging discussion on issues such as speculation on food and energy prices, the threat posed by leveraged buy-outs on jobs and healthy companies, credit rating agencies, transparency, the role of hedge and private equity funds in the American sub-prime crisis, and gaps in existing legislation.
“Progressive people who want financial market reform are getting together“ said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. “Globalization is not just for the markets. We too will be working across continents. We have already begun to share information and move in a common direction. We need to prioritize some issues but even after just one meeting transparency, protecting jobs from activist funds, curbing excessive executive pay and limiting leverage have emerged as topics for further work.”
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said “We cannot achieve enough on our own in Europe but together with the Americans and Japanese we turn financial globalization to the benefit of jobs and the prosperity of all. We have departed down the road of global financial market reform and while the journey will not be completed overnight I am sure that we will get there.”
The PES has promoted global financial market reform for many months before the current financial crisis. For an overview of PES actions on financial markets see http://www.pes.org/content/view/1133/1700098
Participants included
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen – President of PES
Tsutomu Okubo – Shadow Deputy Finance Minister, Japan
David Smith, Chief Economist, Financial Services Committee, House of Representatives
James K Galbraith
Geir Axelsen – Deputy Finance Minister, Norway
Hans Eichel – former Finance Minister, Germany
Ruairi Quinn – former Finance Minister, Ireland
Joan Burton TD - Deputy Leader, Irish Labour Party
Sion Simon MP - UK
Steffen Kern, Deutsche Bank
Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones, Executive Director of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University
John Monks – Secretary General, ETUC
Peter Rossman, International Union of Food Workers
Damon Silver, AFL-CIO
John Evans, Trade Union Advisory Committee to OECD
James Howard, ITUC
Marina Hoffman, Danksmetal
Margit Koppen, IG Metall
Karel Lannoo, Centre for European Policy Studies
Louka Katseli MP, Greece (PASOK Parliamentary Group representative on finance and economy)
Stefano Fassina, Partito Democratico, Italy
John Crombez, SPA, Belgium
Johannes Koskinen, Social Democratic Party, Finland
Georg Ortner, SPO, Austria
Torbjorn Hallo, SAP, Sweden
Elisa Ferreira MEP
Ieke van den Burg MEP
Gabriela Cretu MEP
Antolin Sanches Presedo MEP
Udo Bullman MEP
Karl-Heinz Klar
Arthur Daemmrich, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University
Ellis Ferran, University of Cambridge
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Julian Scola, Communications Advisor - Media & Campaigns
Party of European Socialists, Rue du Trône, 98, B-1050 Brussels
Mobile +32 486 117 394
