Jackson Hole calling US and eurozone politicians

Yesterday, I presented the speeches by the Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke and the ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet in the blog post (in Swedish) USA och Europa: Bernanke och Trichet i Jackson Hole, as well as the message addressed to the eurozone by the IMF chief Christine Lagarde: Jackson Hole: IMF Lagarde talking to Europe.


Jackson Hole calling politicians

The central bankers and the leaders of the international financial institutions want the politicians in the USA and Europe to get their act together, Reuters reports: Analysis: Economic leaders fear policy paralysis (28 August 2011).

The Wall Street Journal chips in with: Central Bankers Worry Economy Still in Peril (29 August 2011).

A Financial Times editorial praised Lagarde for starting a debate on how to get rid of excessive debt in the USA and in Europe, but criticised her willingness to send the tab to the taxpayers: Lagarde spells out ugly truth on debt (28 August 2011).

The message from Jackson Hole to politicians is that monetary policy alone can't keep the global expansion going, according to Bloomberg: Central Bankers Urge Governments on Expansion (29 August 2011).

I am still hoping to find comments on Lagarde's message to the eurozone leaders:

So Europe must recommit credibly to a common vision, and it needs to be built on solid foundations—including, for example, fiscal rules that actually work.

European Parliament

The European Parliament committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) meets today to discuss the sovereign debt markets with the Jean-Claud Trichet and about restoring market confidence with Jean-Claude Juncker, Jacek Rostowski and Olli Rehn (Draft agenda).

A few days ago, ECON chairwoman Sharon Bowles (ALDE) published an article about the challenges on Public Service Europe. The costs of a failure of the euro are simply too huge: Bowles: 'Saving the euro is paramount' (26 August 2011).

According to the Swedish ECON committee member Gunnar Hökmark (EPP), the continuing accumulation of debt did not solve the debt crisis. Too little has been done to enhance competitiveness and to create durable growth: En höst som måste vända utvecklingen (28 August 2011).


Bloggingportal

For continuing discussion about the eurozone challenges and other European issues, follow the new articles from 841 euroblogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, an important part of the European public space. Look for the tags 'eurozone' and competitiveness'.

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Ralf Grahn