Brussels, 02/06/2008
Recently, 14 European political personalities published an opinion piece in a major French daily newspaper calling for an end to “financial madness”. The German President Horst Köhler has compared the financial markets to a “monster”, and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg was similarly outraged at the excesses of the world of finance. The ETUC welcomes all these statements, since they reflect the prescient position the ETUC developed on casino capitalism in 2007, even before the sub-prime crisis.
These days, some pension funds have moved towards speculation on foodstuffs, oil and other raw materials, undermining the living standards of whole sections of the population, whether in Europe or the rest of the world.
Never a day goes by without protests at the income levels of senior executives: we have recently learnt, for example, that the bosses of the 'CAC 40' companies on France's stock exchange saw their earnings rise by 58% in 2007.
In a situation of financial crisis, everything possible must be done to limit the impact on the real economy. Banks must demonstrate transparency, and financial markets apply better regulation to achieve sound international financial management.
ETUC General Secretary John Monks said: “Given a financial market system that creates growing inequalities and is beyond the understanding of ordinary people, urgent action is needed. For this reason the ETUC welcomes the recent declarations and expects that they will soon be followed up in practice by the European and national authorities. Firm action must follow hard words.”