German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made an eloquent call in Berlin on Tuesday for concerns raised by those protesting globalization as undemocratic and a creator of poverty to be taken seriously.
Cautioning that he was not approving the violent protests that have wracked international meetings in Gothenburg, Seattle and Genoa, Schroeder said it would however "be wrong not to take into consideration the worries" that drive the demonstrators.
"These people feel that something has entered into their lives at a high speed and they don't know how it is moving or who has moved it," Schroeder told an international symposium organized by his Social Democrat (SPD) party on prospects for European economic policy.
Their concern is "whether globalization has become a global force that just blows over people," Schroeder said.
He said it was legitimate for people to seek to have a "political influence on this process of globalization."
Schroeder said the goal was a "democratization of globalization" against what protestors perceive as the "uncontrolled power and dominance of international financial institutions."
The chancellor said he was not talking of those who have clashed with police and sacked MacDonald's restaurants but "of the large majority of young people involved who are not letting up in warning us that economic development must in its large dimension have a social sense."
The protestors are warning about their fears of "uncontrolled power of international financial markets" and the effects of globalization on the "development of individual states and whole continents, on the world's ecological equilibrium and on the quality of democracy," Schroeder said.
He said it was not a question of calling globalization into doubt since this internationalization of markets as well as jobs "offers more possibilities than difficulties."
But there must be a "political influence on this process," Schroeder said, adding that the third world could not be left "to the free play of financial markets."
Pursuing this theme, Schroeder said he was ready to talk to his European partners, especially France, about finding a way to control excessive financial speculation on world markets.
He signalled a softening in previous German objections to the so-called Tobin tax proposed to control speculation.
"Naturally I know about the serious objections to the so-called Tobin tax," said Schroeder, naming legal, political and practical problems in taking up to one percent from all currency trades in order to pump the proceeds into development projects in poorer nations.
But, said Schroeder, "We know the weak spots in the world financial system," referring to "off-shore centers, hedge funds and derivatives."
"So I want to speak with our European and especially our French partners about how we want to react to the relatively autonomous speculative financial flow," Schroeder said.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has also spoken out for measures to curb speculation.
The Tobin tax was proposed by Yale University economics professor and Nobel prize winner James Tobin and is due to be discussed by European Union finance ministers in September.
Meanwhile, Eichel suggested at the forum on Tuesday that he was no longer convinced the German economy, the biggest in the 12-country euro zone, would experience a turnaround before the end of the year.
"Experts are no longer arguing about 'whether,' but 'when'. Will the upturn begin this year or during the first half of next year. We'll have to wait and see."
Economy Minister Werner Mueller had said earlier on Tuesday that he expected German gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by just 1.0-1.5 percent this year, the most pessimistic forecast yet made by a government minister.
Schroeder said he foresaw no change in his austerity policies and that he would carry out only reforms the government could pay for and would continue running the economy "with a steady hand." |
