Can only emerging economies save Europe?
Greece's rebellion exposes the lack of leadership in the Eurozone. On the day when Europeans should be giving convincing answers to the world, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa appear as the only ones capable of stemming the bleeding of the crisis. Report by Roberta Namour, from Paris.
Roberta Namour, 247 correspondent in Paris – While France, Germany, the United States, and the IMF discuss Greece's rebellion on one side, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are plotting Europe's salvation on the other. On the day when the world's richest economies should be providing convincing answers to the economic crisis devastating Europe, emerging countries appear as the only way out.
Here, acknowledging dependence on the generosity of the BRICS is still taboo. "Aid from China means a loss of independence for Europe. Being forced to proclaim to the world that we will turn to China to rebalance ourselves means we will have fewer tools to negotiate crucial issues with that country," says François Bayrou, president of the centrist MoDem party. But the truth is that the humiliation of a "reverse colonization" will have to be swallowed if the Eurozone wants to save its skin.
After an ultimatum to Greece to decide its continued membership in the bloc, the great expectation of the first day of the G20 meeting in Cannes is the announcement by emerging economies of aid to the European Financial Stability Facility. The time has come, especially for Brazil and China, to fulfill their previous promises of contributing to the Europeans. Currently, the fund, which will be used as a guarantee for indebted countries, has €440 million (R$1,05 billion) in its coffers. At the last European Union summit, held on October 27th in Brussels, Nicolas Sarkozy announced an additional €1 billion (R$2,38 billion) to calm the financial markets. Even so, this is still insufficient compared to the financial difficulties of Italy and Greece.
The position that emerging economies will take in this historic rescue plan was discussed this morning between President Dilma Rousseff, Presidents Dmitry Medvedev (Russia), Hu Jintao (China), Jacob Zuma (South Africa), and the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh. The lack of action from Europe has left emerging countries the only ones currently in a position to stem the bleeding of the crisis. On the other hand, Europeans know that to do so they will have to accept the imposed conditions. "We have decided to surrender ourselves, hands and feet tied, to the emerging economies. Europeans cannot discuss protection against the social and environmental effects of globalization and, at the same time, ask those from whom you are negotiating this to foot the bill for your financial crisis," says MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit of the European Green Party.
The rules of the geopolitical game are set to be redistributed in the coming hours.