The following article was published in Global Times on 30 June: Was the Toronto G20 summit from June 26 to 27 an impetus for action or a display of rhetoric? This is a difficult question to answer. The Toronto negotiations began well before the meeting. For instance, US President Barack Obama wrote to the G20 [...]

The Copenhagen conference was an unmitigated disaster as an exercise in global governance.  The only hope is that it will act as a wake-up call for a real effort to be made to establish a system. The exercise was doomed from the outset.  • We are still trying to solve the problem without fully identifying and [...]

A G20 summit was held in Pittsburgh on 24-5 September 2009.  Hosted by President Obama, there was quite a turnout.  Leaders in attendance were: States Argentina   Cristina Fernández de Kirchner President  Australia   Kevin Rudd     Prime Minister  Brazil   Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva  President  Canada   Stephen Harper    Prime Minister China   Hu Jintao     President France   Nicolas Sarkozy    President  Germany   Angela Merkel    Chancellor  India    Manmohan [...]

European Union countries hold:   ·              two of the four UN Security Council permanent seats ·              four out of seven G7 seats ·              four plus the EU in the G20 ·              31.7% of IMF voting ·              In practice the right to appoint the IMF president   However, the collective weight and influence of the EU [...]

The following will shortly be published in the College of Europe’s new e-journal, EU-China Observer:   Now that the dust has settled, the results of the much heralded G20 summit in London on 2 April can be reviewed.   There is consensus that there are grave, linked economic and financial crises. There is no consensus [...]

Gordon Brown, in a whirlwind trip to Brussels and the Americas, is seeking to ensure that there will be broad consensus at the G20++ summit in London next month on, in particular, stimulus packages and new regulation.    There is consensus as to the existence of a global economic and financial crisis, but on little [...]