Abstract
In the wake of the global financial crisis, the Group of Twenty (G20), bringing together systemically important advanced and emerging countries, gained significantly in prominence. While up until 2008 G20 members had convened only at the level of finance ministers and central bank governors, G20 Leaders met for the first time in Washington in November 2008 after then U.S. President G.W. Bush had participated in parts of an extraordinary meeting – scheduled at short notice – of G20 ministers and governors on 11 October 2008. In the following year, Leaders convened in London and then in Pittsburgh where they designated the G20 to be the ‘premier’ forum for international policy cooperation. Another two G20 meetings at Leaders’ level took place in 2010 in Toronto and Seoul, respectively.
* The author would like to thank Frank Moss, Marcel Fratzscher and Regine Wölfinger (all ECB) for their helpful comments. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Central Bank.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, the UK and the United States as well as the European Union. At meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors, the EU is represented by the ECB, the European Commission and the rotating EU Presidency, whereas at meetings at the level of Leaders the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council participate.
- 2.
These were the prime minister of Ethiopia and chairman of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the president of Malawi and Leader of the African Union, the prime minister of Vietnam and chairman of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the prime minister of Spain. Moreover, the prime minister of the Netherlands was present at the first Summit in Toronto, while the prime minister of Singapore attended the one in Seoul.
- 3.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the OECD, the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
- 4.
See the G20 Toronto Declaration at http://www.g20.org/Documents/g20_declaration_en.pdf.
- 5.
Guidance is also provided by G20 finance ministers and central bank governors (see the annex to the Washington communiqué of 23rd April, 2010 at: http://www.g20.org/Documents/201004_communique_WashingtonDC.pdf).
- 6.
IMF staff, drawing on submissions by G20 members and considering key economic and financial developments, had calculated a baseline scenario and developed two alternative scenarios – an upside and a downside one – to identify the benefits of collective action (see http://www.imf.org/external/np/g20/pdf/062710a.pdf).
- 7.
See the assessment by World Bank staff at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/G20Framework&MAP-WBReport-TorontoSummit-2.pdf.
- 8.
The New Arrangements to Borrow are credit arrangements between the IMF and a number of its members that provide supplementary resources to the Fund.
- 9.
See the G20 Seoul Declaration at: http://www.g20.org/Documents2010/11/seoulsummit_ declaration.pdf.
- 10.
Leaders’ discussions were based on assessments provided inter alia by IMF staff (see http://www.imf.org/external/np/g20/pdf/111210.pdf) and World Bank staff (see http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/G20-Report-Seoul.pdf).
- 11.
- 12.
See Geithner’s letter at: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/GeithnerG20Letter.pdf.
- 13.
The 8.2 Executive Director positions currently held by advanced European countries are calculated as follows: Each ED position for Germany, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland is counted as 1, adding up to 7; in addition, given rotation schemes in their constituencies, advanced European countries hold the ED position in the Nordic chair 85% of the time (=0.85) and Spain one third of the time (=0.33) in its constituency with Mexico, Venezuela and others.
- 14.
These reforms which entered into force on 3rd March, 2011 result in a significant shift in the representation of dynamic economies and enhance the voice and participation of low-income countries.
- 15.
As part of the measures to support countries during the financial crisis, the IMF had undertaken a number of significant changes to its lending toolkit. In this context, programme access and the duration of the Fund’s Flexible Credit Line (FCL) – a precautionary lending facility introduced in 2009 for top-performing countries with strong policy track records, which entails only ex ante conditionality – were modified in August 2010. The August 2010 lending reform also saw the creation of a new Precautionary Credit Line (PCL). The PCL is designed for Fund members with sound policies which nonetheless do not meet the FCL’s high qualification requirements, thus being available to a wider Fund membership.
- 16.
See the letter by the FSB chairman to G20 Leaders (http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/publications/r_101109.pdf) as well as the FSB report on progress in the implementation of the G20 recommendations for strengthening financial stability (http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/publications/r_101111b.pdf).
- 17.
See the FSB policy framework for addressing SIFIs (http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/publications/r_101111a.pdf).
- 18.
See e.g. the press conference by the French President on 24th January, 2011 (available at: http://www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g20/english/for-the-press/speeches/adress-by-mr-nicolas-sarkozy-to-present-the.1021.html) and his address on 18th February, 2011, to G20 finance ministers and Central Bank governors (http://www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g20/english/for-the-press/speeches/nicolas-sarkozy-s-speech-to-the-g20-ministers.971.html).
- 19.
Invitations to the Summit in Cannes have been issued to five non-members, namely to Ethiopia as the current chair of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Singapore, representing the 27-member Global Governance Group (3G); Spain; the United Arab Emirates, the current chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council; and Equatorial Guinea, the current chair of the African Union.
- 20.
See the communiqué of G20 finance ministers and central governors of 18th and 19th February, 2011, at: http://www.g20.org/Documents2011/02/COMMUNIQUE-G20_MGM%20_18-19_February_2011.pdf.
- 21.
For an in-depth assessment of the IMS and its functioning, see e.g. ECB, The financial crisis and the strengthening of global policy cooperation, ECB Monthly Bulletin, January 2011, pp. 87–97.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ritter, R. (2012). Addressing Global Policy Challenges: The G20 Way in 2010 and Beyond. In: Herrmann, C., Terhechte, J. (eds) European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2012. European Yearbook of International Economic Law, vol 3. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23309-8_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23309-8_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-23308-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-23309-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)