WEF-SARKOZY 2 LST

Sarkozy said in just one year, the global leaders
committed themselves under G-20 to adopt common rules that
will radically change the way the world economy operates.
He said if public finances are not cleaned up, the
recovery may be short lived. "The same causes will produce the
same effects. Look at the new bubbles that are already
starting to form. Here, we cannot be certain that the states
will still have the means to guarantee trust."
In a clear message to the US that the dollar cannot be
allowed as the only global currency, Sarkozy said, "We cannot
have, on the one hand, a multi-polar world and, on the other,
a single benchmark currency across the globe. We cannot, on
the one hand, preach free trade and, on the other, tolerate
monetary dumping".
France, which will chair the G8 grouping of rich nations
and G20 of both advanced and emerging countries in 2011, will
place the reform of the international monetary system on the
agenda, he said.
China was the first country to have suggested an
alternative global currency to the US dollar.
In one of the sharpest ever attacks by a head of state,
on the highly paid bankers, the French President backed US
President Barack Obama in stopping speculation by banks.
However, he said this debate cannot be confined to a single
country, "whatever its weight in global finance. This debate
must be settled within the G20", he said. PTI