mr president it is a real tribute to this european parliament that you can have so many diverse views expressed in such a short period of time by so many people and i thank you for your views
i hope however that even after the party politics has subsided we will remember three things
first of all that it is important that the world comes together to deal with this crisis
for us to sit apart to be aloof not to cooperate with other countries is a recipe for failure and for an inability to solve a problem that is actually a global banking failure that has spread across the industrial economy
if we do not understand the problem we will not be able to understand the solution
we had a power cut right across the banking system right across the world
we found that banks that we thought were independent were completely entangled with other banks in different countries and we have to deal with that problem
whatever the party political lines that people want to adopt on this this is the truth we have to deal with the problem of global banking restructuring
europe did lead the way
we recapitalised our banks
other countries have now done that
more than a trillion dollars has been spent on recapitalising banks across the world
we have now created insurance schemes and other schemes to deal with the impaired assets
this has to be done and it has to be done by global cooperation
the second thing we have to realise despite all the different political views in this parliament is that global cooperation not just in banking institutions but global cooperation in other areas in fiscal and monetary policy and in trade has to be a very important part of how we approach the future
like it or like it not the world is changing incredibly fast
more manufacturing is being done in asia than in europe
there is trade round the world at a speed that we have never seen before until this crisis and we have to deal with that by creating a global trading environment which is free but also fair
whatever the views in this parliament i think people have to face up to that as well
the third thing that comes out of this discussion for me is that to have global solutions to global problems we will also need not just our european institutions to be strong but our global institutions to be strong
i was asked by people who were replying to my speech what we could do to reform these global institutions
the imf the world bank and the world trade organisation are all organisations built in the nineteen fourties to deal with the problems of the nineteen fourties
we are in the year two thousand and nine
we had national capital markets
we now have global capital markets
we had domestic competition
we now have global competition
the world has changed fundamentally and we need institutions that reflect a global economy in the way they operate and deal with the problems we have
i was asked whether i would ensure or try to ensure that the international monetary fund had the resources necessary to deal with the problems of economies that could not at the moment sustain themselves when there was a flight of capital
the answer is we must do that
i was asked whether the world bank and other international institutions can help countries where there is substantial poverty being created as a result of the crisis
we have got to do that
i believe that the lesson of this crisis is that we are now in a global economy
there are global problems that need global solutions
that will require us to shape global institutions and my message to this parliament is very clear
europe has led the way in so many other areas it is now time to lead the way in creating the global institutions that will deal with the global problems we have and provide global solutions
this is a test of how we having over the last sixty years created a europe which has social protection as well as economic progress can help shape a world where we have economic progress environmental care and social justice at the same time
i believe that whatever the different views expressed in this parliament there is a will across the peoples of this world to do that and we europe can play a major role in it
