EU: Ecofin followed up G20 Cannes summit

When I waded through the documents published by the G20 summit in Cannes 3 to 4 November 2011, I wondered if the Ecofin Council of the EU would find anything intelligent to say, something to highlight for posterity.

Now we have the Ecofin conclusions:

3129th Council meeting Economic and Financial Affairs; Brussels, 30 November 2011 (provisional version, 17683/11; 26 pages)

We are able to see that Ecofin bravely resisted any temptation to offer unmerited attention to any detail at the expense of the whole (page 7):

FOLLOW-UP TO THE G-20 SUMMIT

The Council took stock of the outcome of the G-20 summit held in Cannes on 3 and 4 November, on the basis of a debriefing by the Commission and by the French delegation (in its capacity as G-20 presidency).

The G-20 summit covered:
• coordination of economic policies;
• the G-20 framework for growth;
• reform of financial regulation;
• reform of the international monetary system;
• commodity price volatility;
• other issues, such as food security, global governance, development cooperation, trade, corruption, employment and energy

We leave the sherpas to prepare the next G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, in June 2012, and we look forward to the next Ecofin follow-up.



Ralf Grahn