Tag: G20

US President Barack Obama faced growing pressure from Russia's Vladimir Putin and other world leaders yesterday (5 September) to decide against launching military strikes in Syria, which many of them fear would hurt the global economy and push up oil prices.

A potential showdown over Syria between US President Barack Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin could overshadow a two-day meeting of world leaders beginning today (5 September) in St Petersburg initially dedicated to reviving the global economy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking ahead of the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland on 17-18 June, said his country would not follow the mistakes of Europe that led to the eurozone crisis. In a wide-ranging interview he blamed the EU’s "mentality” for endangering the economy and the “moral basics of society”.

Europe won support from world leaders yesterday (19 June) for an ambitious but slow-moving overhaul of the eurozone, even as pressure built in financial markets for quicker solutions to its debt crisis that threatens the world economy.

The G20, knocked off course by the escalating political crisis in Greece, agreed in principle today (4 November) that the International Monetary Fund could assist Europe's rescue fund, but left specifics to be dealt with in February.

There a clear mismatch between G20 meeting agreements and their implementation afterwards, and the new global governance tool could benefit from the EU's experience of the Open Method of Coordination, argues Henning Meyer from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

British chancellor George Osborne backed down on one of his key demands that all derivatives trading be immediately covered by new EU rules but won some smaller concessions on controlling a market once described as the "Wild West". 

The European Union will push for the adoption of a financial transactions tax at a summit of the world's 20 biggest economies, the G20, in November, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday (31 August).

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday (14 June) called for tighter controls on the speculators he blames for spiralling food and energy prices, spelling out reforms that would put more trading under the thumb of regulators.

If the United Nations is to retain its credibility, countries must stop talking and start hard negotiations on reforming the Security Council to reflect new political realities, said Joseph Deiss, president of the UN General Assembly, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned that the G20 summits' effectiveness is being undermined by "mini-lateralism". 

The Italian prime minister's economic strategies may have prevented dramatic falls in his popularity in the short-term but will eventually backfire, writes Tito Boeri, professor of economics at Bocconi University in Milan.

Germany is no longer a geopolitical chessboard and is beginning to see itself as a major world power again – and it has been forcefully defending its interests and national economic strategy ahead of the G20 summit this week, writes global intelligence company Stratfor in an analysis.

The Group of 20 meeting yesterday (11 November) struggled to agree on meaningful action to rebuild the global economy as the EU tried to calm markets over a crisis that erupted in Ireland, whose bond yields hit record highs reminiscent of the Greek debt debacle.

As the G20 summit opens in Seoul today (10 November), the European Union has called on major economies to refrain from competitive devaluations amid warnings from Berlin about the weak US and Chinese currencies and fears of rising protectionism.

Ahead of the G20 meeting in Seoul, former South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan argues that amid a shift in thinking about state-market relations, leaders have to avoid looking inwards and squandering valuable opportunities, and instead make meaningful progress to revitalise and strengthen the IMF and global financial regulation.

The G20 sealed an accord branded as "historic" on Saturday (24 October) to reform the International Monetary Fund, in a grand bargain that will see Europe give up two seats on the Fund's Executive Board in return for greater responsibility from emerging economies on currency valuations.

A draft European Commission wish-list for the November G20 summit in Seoul no longer puts financial taxes on the agenda, according to an internal note seen by EurActiv, which will be discussed today (19 October) by the College of Commissioners.

A robust rebound in world trade and political progress at the G20 have set the stage for a renewed push to agree a global trade deal, according to top-ranking officials from the EU, US and China. EurActiv reports from the European Business Summit (EBS).

World leaders agreed on 27 June in Toronto to take different paths towards assuring lasting growth and making their banking systems safer, a reflection of the uneven and fragile economic recovery in many countries.

The Group of 20 major economies will warn against complacency in tackling the global economic crisis and say that sickly public accounts could hit long-term growth, a draft G20 document shows.

To prevent taxpayers from footing the bill for bailing out collapsing banks, the European Commission proposed today (26 May) that banks set up "preventive" funds, primarily financed from their liabilities and possibly their profits.

Although the G20 was hailed as the body that would prevent another great depression, it has practically disappeared from public view and is over-represented by Europe – which will have to streamline its participation at some point, writes Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER), in an April paper.