The following are comments by policymakers attending the Group of 20 Summit in Cannes, France:
U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
“The world faces challenges that put our global economic recovery at risk.”
“Events in Greece over the past 24 hours have underscored the importance of implementing the (euro zone crisis) plan.”
“I am confident Europe has the capacity to meet this challenge. What the world looks for in moments such as this is action.”
“Our European partners have laid a foundation on which to build and it has all the elements for success.”
“Here in Cannes we’ve moved the ball forward.”
“All of us have an enormous interest in Europe’s success and all of us will be affected if Europe is not growing.”
GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL
“There are hardly any countries here which said they were ready to go along with the EFSF (euro zone rescue fund).”
FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY
“We never wanted to change governments, either in Greece or in Italy. That is not our role, that is not our idea of democracy, but it’s clear that there are rules in europe and if you exonerate yourself from these rules you exclude yourself from Europe.”
“Italy has a council president whose name is Silvio Berlusconi, who put forward a plan. This is a reality that has come before us by democratic means. And Silvio Berlusconi, who is aware of market doubts over the implementation of the plan, has asked the commission and the IMF for monitoring.”
“Why would you want us to set the conditions for bringing in one government or another in a given country? That would be madness.”
On growth: “We have decided to use all the means at our disposal to support growth. The situation is much more complex than in 2009. There is no single response. Washington and London were about all out measures to support growth. Toronto was about reducing (debt) by any means and Cannes is about differentiating situations according to the country.
“We consider it morally indispensable that people of the world know that financial players who have led the world into the troubles that we know will have to contribute financially to the damage which has been done.”
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON
“Every day that the euro zone crisis continues is a day that has a chilling effect on the rest of the world economy.
“Britain will not contribute to the euro zone bailout fund and we are clear that the IMF will not contribute to the euro bailout fund either.
“Global action cannot be a substitute for concerted action by the euro zone to stand behind their currency.
“The very worst thing would be to try and cook up a number without being very specific about who was contributing what.
“The job of the IMF is to help countries in distress, not to support currency unions.
“The world can’t wait for the euro zone to through endless questions and changes about this.”
“You can’t ask the IMF, nor should you, nor ever would I, ask the IMF to put its money into a euro zone bail out fund – that wouldn’t be right.
“Britain will not invest in a euro zone bailout fund. Britain will not invest in the IMF, so the IMF can invest in a euro zone bailout fund. That is not going to happen.
“If you go back to our last increase in IMF resources, there was a parliamentary vote. That vote allowed for some extra headroom and what we’d anticipate doing would be within that headroom.”
CHINESE PRESIDENT HU JINTAO
On Thursday: “At this critical moment, the G20 must work to address the key problems, boost market confidence, defuse risks and meet challenges, and promote global economic growth and financial stability.
“We should speed up the adjustment of our respective economic structures and endeavour to achieve fairly balanced growth of the global economy. To keep asking emerging markets to revalue their currencies and reduce exports will not lead to balanced growth. On the contrary, it would only plunge the global economy into a ‘balanced recession’ and make sustainable growth impossible.
“We should advance the reform of the international monetary system in a steady manner, expand the use of the SDR of the IMF, reform the SDR currency basket, and build an international reserve currency system with stable value, rule-based issuance and manageable supply.”
