George W. BushCalled to Order

Europe called George W. Bush to order, that is, the new global financial order. Creating this order will require several summits, the first of which will take place in the U.S. before the end of November.

For now, it’s not clear exactly when the heads of the world’s leading economies will meet, where the meeting will take place, or who will be invited. But even the little information that’s already available is enough for experts and politicians to assert that the world has approached an important line, and crossing that line will lead to global changes. And it’s obvious that this statement refers not only to the qualitative modernization of the economic model, but also serious political shifts as well.

After serious trouble on Wall Street, Washington tried to prove to the rest of the world for a while that these problems were merely temporary difficulties that could be solved by pouring billions of dollars or euros into the economy, or even by the partial nationalization of the banking sector. However, Europe, Asia, and South America had a drastically different view. Everyone except those working in the White House already understood for quite some time that immediate and fundamental emergency measures must be taken to rescue the global economy.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, “The international financial system–its basic principles and regulations and its institutions need reform. We need a new global financial order.” Along with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Barroso arrived at Camp David last weekend to visit George W. Bush.

Everyone was aware that their conversation would be extremely difficult. After all, they’ve come to ask Bush to agree to consultations on an unprecedentedly-high level, which would most likely result in the destruction of the global economic governance model which has been used over the past sixty years. And it is no secret that it was because of this model that the U.S. had become the most powerful economy in the world.

The persuasion lasted three hours. After that, self-content Barroso and Sarkozy came out with the clearly befuddled Bush to face the press. Based on everything they said, it was clear that the White House had raised the white flag. The only thing which the President of the U.S. was able to insist was to hold the first summit on American soil. Apparently, Washington expects that the home advantage will make it easier for them to defend their interests during the development of the new model for the global economy. And maybe after some time, Americans will be able to once again declare on the Discovery Channel that they are ahead of the whole world–this time, claiming that they were the first to understand that the changes were necessary, and that they “graciously” provided their services to gather all of the leaders.

The rest of the world, though, is now much more interested in the first summit’s time and format rather than the American ego. After the meeting at Camp David, Sarkozy said, “But we must not waste any time. We want a summit, nations of the G8, as has been stated and no doubt the G5 countries, so that together with Asian states and others, we find a worldwide solution. This must be done forthwith.” The French President added that according to his calculations, the meeting will be held before the end of November.

At this point, no one wants to talk to Bush about global issues. On the other hand, listening to what the new U.S. president (who will be elected on November 4th) thinks about the situation is an entirely different matter. The next step is to determine precisely who is worth inviting to this summit. It’s clear that inviting only the G8 won’t cut it. Unquestionably, China, India and Brazil are candidates to get an invitation. Most experts agree that Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia should be added to that list as well. Other than that, inflating the format of the upcoming consultations is clearly not worth it. Indeed, what the world needs now are concrete workable agreements among the major financial players, not endless attempts to watch out for their own self-interest, and conversation for their own sake.