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Roundtables
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02/23/10 |
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On February 23, 2010, The European Institute held a special breakfast meeting of its Transatlantic Roundtable on Financial and Monetary Affairs with His Excellency Vassilis Kaskarelis, Ambassador of Greece to the United States, who spoke about the implications of Greece’s financial crisis.
Ambassador Kaskarelis explained that serious structural problems have existed in Greece for 7 years and that for most of 2009, no action was taken to correct these problems due to the upcoming elections. As a result, he argued that the new government elected in October 2009 faces the herculean task of solving Greece’s longstanding financial woes. Ambassador Kaskarelis said that he is optimistic for Greece’s future because this is the first time that the EU is enforcing specific economic measures in Greece and he believes that Greece has hit rock bottom, which means that people will soon start buying and investing in Greece again.
The Ambassador remarked that while the current crisis needs guidance from Brussels, domestic concerns must also be taken into consideration. He argued that if the Greek people do not approve of the measures implemented by external actors, the government will lose the next election and the reform process will be stalled or possibly halted. Reform will take time, the Ambassador emphasized, and he advocated for selling these reform measures to the public the right way in order to avoid a social crisis.
Finally, Ambassador Kaskarelis turned to Europe and the impact on the Eurozone. He argued that the situation in Greece is not unlike financial crises other EU countries have faced; Greece is just the first country to allow the crisis to go this far. The Ambassador argued that measures could have been imposed on Greece last year by the EU if the process to do so had been clearer and less complicated. He stated that the problems in Greece affect the whole of the EU, not just the Eurozone and that the EU is testing how much they can react to this situation. Ambassador Kaskarelis believes that the EU is reluctant to loan money to Greece because they fear what will happen if another Eurozone country faces a similar problem. He concluded by saying that decisions have to be made and it is up to Europe because Greece has already made their decisions. |
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Last Updated on 03/07/10 |
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Roundtables
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03/25/09 |
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This meeting hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, addressed trade issues in light of the current economic crisis and declining trade. Speakers included: Mauro Petriccione, European Commission's DG Trade Director for bilateral relations including the United States and China; Dr. Tihomir Stoytchev, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of Republic of Bulgaria; and William “Bill” Craft, Jr., Acting Assistant Secretary for Trade Policy and Programs at the U.S. Department of State. All of the panelists agreed that despite the economic crisis, it is vital to avoid protectionism policies and that transatlantic cooperation is needed to keep world trade markets open. |
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Winter/Spring 2008
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Written by J. Paul Horne
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 Looking beyond the current turmoil in global capital markets, that long-running subject – what outlook for the dollar? – seems likely to involve further decline in its value against the euro and other major currencies. There is scant evidence of willingness on the part of U.S. political and monetary leaders, today’s or tomorrow’s, to do what is necessary to make the dollar fundamentally stronger. Indeed, American policy-makers have powerful reasons to let the dollar depreciate over time, shifting the cost to the rest of the world of U.S. international borrowing to cover shortcomings in economic policies pursued by Washington.
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Roundtables
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04/24/09 |
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Convened on the eve of the IMF and World Bank Spring meetings, this seminar gathered U.S. and European policy-makers to discuss the role of transatlantic cooperation in turning the crisis into an opportunity for better global financial governance. The need for closer regulatory coordination between the United States and the European Union emerged as a widely-shared conclusion among the participants, including The Honorable Paul Kanjorski, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises and Stefano Manservisi, Director General, DG Development, The European Commission. Willy Kiekens, Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, and Elizabeth Jacobs, Deputy Director, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission outlined the priorities of their respective organization. The Honorable Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Central Bank Governing Council and Governor of the Bank of Finland echoes this call for increased coordination between the US and Europe, as well as among European States. The Honorable Luc Frieden, Minister of the Treasury for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg offered the luncheon keynote address. The meeting was moderated by Daniel Duncan, Senior Director of Government Affairs, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. |
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Winter/Spring 2008
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A Roundtable Discussion
Already the buzz this year in financial circles, sovereign wealth funds have been initially welcomed in the United States (and to a lesser degree in Europe) as white knights whose capital investments have helped rescue troubled financial institutions and other companies stricken by the credit-market crisis. But these funds, even as they are currently sought after by financially-bleeding companies, could easily become controversial with public opinion and regulators in the United States and European countries because of their potential political dimensions. The very fact of their emergence is a symptom of profound new shifts in the global financial order. To head off potential jingoist reactions against the proposed buy-ins by these new investors, there is a need to probe a set of questions about how these funds work and about whether rules can be reached – by mutual agreement – to ensure that the funds prove compatible with global capital movements. |
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