Two different directions at the G20 meeting

Officials from France and Germany and other European nations are determined to use the G20 meeting of finance ministers near London this weekend to focus on imposing new tighter regulations on both the finance industry and the assemblage of tax havens around the world. However, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and British Chancellor Alistair Darling have insisted on concentrating their attention on designing a new international accord on bailing out the financial and economic system. While the Europeans want more control over markets, with perhaps the creation of international regulators, the Americans fear the possibility of gradually diminishing sovereignty over its own institutions.
Were this not so important it will be interesting to hear the type of accusations among the leaders of the most powerful nations in the world . While the Europeans complain that the Americans started this and now are less interested in creating the rules to prevent a repetition, Obama said last weekend that “part of what you’re seeing now is weaknesses in Europe that are actually greater than some of the weaknesses here, bouncing back and having an impact on our markets.”
As an European ambassador said “in three weeks we’ll see whether the love affair with Obama can withstand our demand that the United States clean up its system fast, and his demand that we contribute more to Afghanistan, even faster.” In the meantime the global economic downturn continues…