By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission (1993-2002), member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institute.

In a recent address to the Institute for Global Financial integrity in Luxemburg, David Wright, former Deputy Director General at the European Commission, insisted on the fact that 2011 is a crucial year for progressing with the reforms necessitated by the financial crisis, both at European and global level.

This diagnosis is all the more relevant that, despite the significant legislative and regulatory work already accomplished on both sides of the Atlantic, the revival of financial markets (in particular stock markets) and the timid (...)

By Gérard DUSSILLOL, Chairman of the "Public Finances" Committee of the Thomas More Institute.

By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission, member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institute.

In his ambitious program for the 2011 French presidency of the G8/G20, President Sarkosy has stressed the need to make significant progress in the governance of world markets and has pinpointed two specific objectives: on the one hand a better regulation of commodity markets, subject that will not be address herein, and, on the other, a new multilateral financial framework aimed at curtailing the domination of the US dollar (“Dollar”) that he considers excessive. The subject is highly complex and requires full transparency of its aims prior to devising (...)

By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission, member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institute.

Despite noble intentions to reassure markets, the lack of political will on behalf of governments on the one hand and the reluctance of national and international officials to properly brief their political masters on perfectly identified problems on the other are abetting and intensifying market volatility.

Clear answers are absolutely needed to - at least - the following problems:

1) Recognizing that dealing with financial assistance and, in particular, sovereign debt resolution, are fundamentally different for countries that retain “full” monetary (...)

By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission, member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institute.

The communiqué of the G20 meeting last weekend is surprising in several respects. First of all is the strong reaffirmation of the virtues of an unfettered “free market” in which FX rates should be allowed to find the “own” level without “intervention” other than an unspecified commitment by the major economic powers to correct excessive “ current account imbalances”, be they deficits or surpluses.

Such a statement contrasts with the quasi unanimous diagnosis that “totally free and unregulated markets” contributed significantly to the (...)