President Bill Clinton has joined other world leaders, including Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and the French prime minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, in a call for greater controls on international financial markets. The 14 leaders of centre-left governments were meeting in Berlin for a conference on Progressive Governance for the 21st Century aimed at devising common strategies to meet the challenge of globalisation.
In their closing communique, the leaders said that, although globalisation is an economic and cultural reality, it is a reality that must be controlled by governments. They singled out the uncontrolled nature of the international financial markets as a major contributing factor to the financial crises that wrecked national economies in some parts of the world during the 1990s.
"We see the need to improve the institutional framework in which financial markets operate, in terms of the adoption of efficient regulation, supervising and accounting, codes of conduct, principles of sound corporate governance, and a fair sharing of responsibility between the public and the private sector. "We agreed on the need for adequate regulation and supervision in order to strengthen financial stability and social justice," they said.
The centre-left leaders, who met in Florence last year, were joined in Berlin by leaders from a number of poorer countries, including South Africa's Mr Thabo Mbeki. The most notable absence was that of the British prime minister, Mr Tony Blair, who decided to stay at home with his new son, Leo. "Progressive governance is family friendly," Mr Clinton said. Mr Blair's absence may have been due to private reasons but it threw into relief the unusually cordial relations between Mr Jospin and Mr Schroder. The German chancellor has distanced himself from Mr Blair's Third Way policies in recent months and appears increasingly determined to tread a common path with the French prime minister.
For his part, Mr Jospin spoke warmly of the German chancellor, praising his work in organising the conference and helping to give globalisation "a human face".
The leaders agreed that the social welfare system in some developed countries needs to be reformed but they stressed that the old, the sick and the disabled must not suffer as a result. National governments should encourage economic stability by enforcing strict budgetary discipline and fighting inflation but businesses should wake up to their responsibilities too.
"The affluent should lend society their abilities and talents, not exclude themselves from society, and those who are underprivileged should be integrated, being offered new chances. We support an enabling role for the state, providing all citizens with the tools to develop themselves. Women must have equal rights, equal access to education and employment and equal pay for equal work. Companies have responsibilities in community life too. This relationship has to be emphasised," the leaders said.
German opposition politicians claimed yesterday that the conference was little more than a talking shop and that there was little chance that the ringing words of the final communique will be transformed into action. But Mr Schroder said that the centre-left leaders were serious about establishing an international network to deal with the effects of globalisation.
"We are talking about a network of academics and political decision makers who will have an impact on the political process," he said.
