Europeans for Financial Reform newsletter

Dear Friend,

NEW COMMON DECLARATION OF EUROPEANS FOR FINANCIAL REFORM COALITION

In the aftermath of the first shocks that hit the global financial system in 2007, international momentum for radical reform of the financial system appeared to have been reached with the 2009 G20 summits in Pittsburgh and London. Progressive forces believed in the imminence of a critical rethinking of three decades of pure financial neo-liberalism. But now, nearly three years after the subprime crisis, conservative governments have shown that they are slipping back into bad old habits.

AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour, and ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) would like to invite you to a panel discussion:

WHO PAYS FOR THE CRISIS?

Is the EU ready for bank levies, bonus taxes & financial transaction taxes?

Wednesday, 14th April 2010

19:00 h

Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU

Avenue de Cortenbergh 30, 1040 Brussels, 1st floor

FINANCIAL REGULATION WATCHDOG

Bank Levy and/or financial transaction tax?

Last week, Angela Merkel defended a decision to introduce bank restructuring rules aimed at reducing 'moral hazard' or the assumption by banks to be bailed out with taxpayer money in the event of a crisis. It will include the introduction of an annual levy on banks' balance sheets, excluding customers' deposits, and reform insolvency law for big banks whose demise could jeopardise the health of the broader financial sector.

After the devastation of the economic crisis, and the anger that this has provoked, there is now genuine political momentum for the establishment of a global financial transaction tax.

For this reason, the first seminar of the Europeans for Financial Reform initiative will look in detail at how we can make a financial transaction tax a reality.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Governments are facing a clear choice. They can act decisively and together to fix a broken global economy and thus fulfill their responsibility to govern in the interests of people, or they may choose to dodge that responsibility and do what the banks are telling them to do. [...] There is a real possibility of extreme social tension or worse if governments continue to put the interests of banks and finance ahead of jobs and social justice,” said the General Secretary of ITUC, Guy Ryder.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"A number of serious questions remain unanswered by the St Andrews meeting, including with regard to assistance for developing countries, a global financial transactions tax, the transparency and governance of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and the commitment of resources to tackle climate change". ITUC/TUAC Evaluation of the G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting. Click here for the full report.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The IMF, which has been asked to make recommendations on this, has traditionally opposed such a tax and now seems to be steering the G20 towards a weak option which would not generate many funds nor make banks help to pay for the crisis they caused,” said John Evans, General Secretary of the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee.

THEY JOINED THE CAMPAIGN

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The big bonuses of financial firms continue to spur outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. "This indicates that banks have not learned their lessons from the global financial crisis, while among the taxpayers who bailed them out last year unemployment rates are still on the rise. We owe it to our citizens to set strict international financial regulations so this will no happen again". Pervenche Beres

THEY JOINED THE CAMPAIGN