With major European economies on the brink of collapse, leaders
concluding an annual Group of 20 meeting sought Tuesday to reassure the
world that they would find a way to put out the debt-fueled economic
wildfire that has threatened banks, wiped out jobs and toppled
governments across the continent.
But the presidents and prime ministers gathered in this seaside resort
seemed content to delay any major decisions for a while longer,
releasing only a general statement that stopped short of committing any
nations to greater spending unless conditions worsen and urging fiscal
responsibility.
For months, governments and economists have weighed two different paths
to ease the financial crisis- spending more to try to stimulate growth
or slashing budgets. European leaders headed home without announcing any
significant agreements, and they aimed to meet again later this month
in Brussels, with a goal of adopting a more detailed plan.
Still, the battle lines in the stimulus-versus-austerity debate were
clearly drawn among the 24 heads of state gathered in a heavily guarded
convention hall lined by a moat. The conservative leaders of the United
Kingdom, South Korea and Germany came out decisively for austerity,
warning that budget cuts were crucial to restoring fiscal order and
worldwide confidence.
“The countries in crisis will have to find measures that might be
painful and politically unpopular in the short term, but nonetheless
they must pursue this path,” South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said
Monday.
On the other side were left-leaning governments such as those in
Argentina, Brazil and France that have denounced the German-imposed
austerity plan for struggling countries such as Spain and Greece and
pushed for more stimulus spending.
President Barack Obama said European leaders “grasp the seriousness” of
their debt crisis and are moving with a “heightened sense of urgency” to
find a solution.
After the summit, Obama said the economic problems in Europe won’t be
solved by the G-20 or the United States, but by European nations. He
said he was confident they could do that, but acknowledged the
difficulty of getting all the separate legislatures to agree.
That the leaders adopted only some general policies is typical of G-20
declarations, said Jacob Kirkegaard, a research fellow at the
Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“On the big issue of the hour, of weeks and months, the G-20 communique
is not going to make a big difference,” Kirkegaard said. “The communique
will repeat the mantra about strong, balanced, global growth. With each
member state free to do whatever they want, that’s the way to paper
over those differences.”
Indeed, the statement’s reassuring words failed to sooth troubled world
stock markets, which remained mixed and nervous Tuesday.
Germany must shoulder a large share of the contributions to bail out
economically weaker European countries that overspent for years. In
exchange, Germany has been insisting on steep cutbacks from aid
recipients such as Greece.
Those cutbacks have led to dramatic economic hardship for voters in
Greece and other countries. A growing number of European countries have
been advocating spending and growth, not austerity, and the G-20
statement made limited mention of such a possibility.
“We are united in our resolve to promote growth and jobs,” the document
said. “Strong sustainable and balanced growth remains the top priority
of the G20, as it leads to higher job creation and increases the welfare
of people across the world.”
The statement threw support specifically behind greater government
spending in countries that can afford it, if conditions get
significantly worse. Countries with “sufficient fiscal space stand ready
to coordinate and implement discretionary fiscal actions to support
domestic demand.”
The plan also hinted at flexibility by asking that governments “take
into account evolving economic conditions,” which could open the way for
more latitude in troubled countries such as Greece.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois
Hollande noted that the summit’s final declaration also pledges to avoid
new protectionist measures until the end of 2014 and that China has
agreed to let currency fluctuate more freely, according to market
forces.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated Tuesday that Greece has to uphold its side of the bargain.
“It’s obvious that the reforms that were agreed in the past are the
right steps and that they therefore must be implemented,” she said,
though she avoided directly answering the issue of giving Greece more
time.
Merkel said the G-20 leaders had a “very balanced” discussion on growth,
though she stressed once again that growth “is not just about money.”
“We need the right mix of budget consolidation ... and at the same time efforts for growth,” she said.
The statement said the Obama administration pledged to prevent sharp tax
increases and government spending cuts from kicking in at the end of
the year, as scheduled under current law, to avoid sending the U.S. into
another recession.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. was “encouraged” by
European leaders’ plans to confront the continent’s economic crisis.
Speaking on the sidelines of the summit, Geither said Europe will now
focus on helping Greece stay afloat, designing a more integrated
financial system and improving economic growth.
“And all of us, of course, have a huge interest, a huge stake in the success of their efforts,” he said.
Repeatedly, the G-20 plan stresses shoring up banking systems. It calls
for a “more integrated financial architecture, encompassing banking
supervision, resolution and recapitalization, and deposit insurance.”
The cost of bailing out Spain’s 1.1 trillion ($1.39 trillion) economy
would likely outstrip current global ability, even after the
International Monetary Fund announced late Monday that a round of
contributions had increased its lending capacity to $456 billion. The
countries making the biggest IMF contributions will be Japan, at $60
billion; Germany, at $54.7 billion; and China, at $43 billion. The
United States is notably not contributing in the latest round.
Associated Press writers Michael Weissenstein in Los Cabos, Mexico;
Christopher S. Rugaber and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington; Geir Moulson in
Berlin; and Sarah DiLorenzo in Brussels contributed to this report.
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