Tegenstrijdige persconferenties aan vooravond G20 (en)
EUOBSERVER / LONDON – The eve of formal G20 discussions due to be held in London's Excel Centre in the east docklands area was marked by competing press conferences between old alliances, while a series of bilateral meetings across the city bore considerable results.
United States president Barack Obama i and British prime minister Gordon Brown i both stressed the importance of co-ordinated stimulus spending to jump-start the global economy at a joint press conference on Wednesday (1 April) morning.
"Don't short-change the future for fear of the present," said Mr Obama, in reference to his belief that countries needed to go further into the red to boost the struggling global economy.
At the same time Mr Obama indicated that the world would have to grow accustomed to the US no longer being the "voracious consumer market" that many export-based economies had come to depend on.
Later on Wednesday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy i and German chancellor Angela Merkel i, not known for their close relationship, held a competing press conference in the afternoon where they stressed the need for improved regulation of the financial markets.
"In the results, we want the principle of new regulation to be a major objective ...This is not negotiable," said Mr Sarkozy.
"Countries that do not stick to agreements must be named. The communiqué needs to set out very concrete steps. The summit must delineate the new architecture of financial markets," said Ms Merkel.
At the same press conference Mr Sarkozy laughed off previous threats to walk out of the formal discussions on Thursday saying: "It would be awkward for me to leave when I've only just arrived."
Bilaterals bear fruit
The day was also characterised by a hectic schedule of bilateral meetings before leaders sat down to a dinner cooked by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver at No.10 Downing Street that evening.
Analysts claimed Mr Obama's meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev as a major breakthrough in improved relations with the announcement of a surprise meeting this summer.
"I have agreed to visit Moscow in July, which we both agreed was a better time than January to visit," said Mr Obama.
The two sides expressed their intention to cut supplies of nuclear weapons and strengthen non-proliferations treaties.
Meanwhile, China and France agreed to resume high-level contacts following a diplomatic spat last December when Mr Sarkozy met the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
What's on the table?
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso i briefed press on the Eurostar on the way to London, saying the summit would name and shame tax haven countries, which will face "meaningful consequences" after the event.
An IMF source told Reuters that the US will propose tripling the fund's resources to $750 billion (€570 billion) instead of the doubling to $500 billion previously mooted. Russian press says that IMF member countries may benefit from a new $370 billion credit line.
UK daily The Telegraph reports that the summit communique will include a new curb on bankers' pay, with high risk-taking financiers in future to be paid in long term share options instead of year-end cash bonuses.
Street protests in London on Wednesday night were largely peaceful. But pockets of violence, such as an attack on a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, led to 87 arrests. One protester collapsed with breathing difficulties and died.
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