2023-06-22 13:01:00
For the opening of the summit for a new financial pact, Emmanuel Macron called for a “general mobilization” to unlock the overhaul of the global economic system.
By NJ with AFP Emmanuel Macron pleaded Thursday for a “public funding shock” and more “private funding”. © LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP Published on 06/22/2023 at 1:01 p.m.
Emmanuel Macron opened the “summit for a new financial pact” by asking the fifty or so heads of state or government gathered on Thursday June 22 in Paris for a “shock of public funding” in the face of the climate crisis and poverty. This summit, which he is hosting, aims to unlock the overhaul of the global economic system.
The Head of State called for a “general mobilization”, noting that there was “a lot of money”, but not necessarily “at the service of the progress of the planet”. “We have a financial system that is the fruit of a past consensus [qui] is no longer going fast enough, which is no longer quite suitable and which needs to be realigned with our objectives. »
The young Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, invited to speak immediately after the president, began by asking the heads of state and government in front of her to respect a minute of silence “for all those who are already suffering and who are hungry, who are displaced, who drop out of school”. The leaders did not take their eyes off her, in grave silence. She called for “a fair exit from fossil fuels”, directly attacking the profits of Western oil companies. “Broken promises cost lives,” she said.
Urgently renovate the financial architecture
The works at the Brongniart palace, in the center of Paris, should not lead to concrete decisions, but benefit from the weight of the floor of the guests: the head of the UN Antonio Guterres and the Brazilian president Lula will be present as well as the German chancellor Olaf Scholz and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Washington will “pressure” for creditors from poor and developing countries to participate in negotiations to restructure their debts, according to a speech by Ms. Yellen Thursday morning in Paris. China, in particular, one of the world’s main creditors, is regularly singled out for its lack of participation in a common restructuring framework with Western countries.
Beijing is represented at this summit by its Prime Minister Li Qiang, Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. About twenty African leaders are there, several of whom have recently raised their voices against the rich countries, which are quicker to pay billions to support Ukraine at war.
READ ALSOThe half-empty GreensThe idea of the summit germinated in November during the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt, in the wake of the plan presented by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. His voice rekindled the hope of seeing progress on this subject, which has become a drag on climate negotiations between poor countries and rich countries, the main historical culprits of greenhouse gas emissions.
The objective of the summit is to urgently renovate the international financial architecture, born of the Bretton Woods agreements in 1944 with the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). Access to their funding is considered difficult by developing countries, while their needs are immense to face heat waves, droughts and floods, but also to get out of poverty while freeing themselves from fossil fuels and preserving nature.
100 billion dollars per year
Among the many ideas being debated, that of an international tax on carbon emissions from maritime transport is gaining momentum.
World leaders are talking about other taxes, but also institutional reforms, the restructuring of the debts of poor countries, a strengthening of the role of the private sector… The suspension of debt payment in the event of a natural disaster is strongly supported by Mia Mottley.
READ ALSOAfrica: what economic strategy for tomorrow? The rich countries will be confronted with their promise to finance 100 billion dollars (91 billion euros) per year to help the poor countries in the face of global warming. A promise supposed to be kept this year, with three years of delay which has deeply diminished the confidence between the North and the South. The amount may seem ridiculous, but “public funding is the seed that will raise the trillions,” said Harjeet Singh of the Climate Action Network.
The multilateral development banks will also be called upon to lend more, a few months after the announcement of the mobilization of 50 billion dollars over ten years by the WB. Its new president, Ajay Banga, will be there, as will the managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva.
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