G20 Summit: Joint Letter of Presidents Barroso and Van Rompuy to G20 Leaders

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Delegation of the European Union to the United States

Nov 05, 2010, 12:43 ET

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a joint letter sent to G20 leaders today, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy share their views on key issues on the agenda of the G20 Summit in Seoul, building on the discussions with their European colleagues at the October European Council.

In particular they stress: "The uneven global recovery highlights the need to forcefully implementing the G20 Framework for strong, balanced and sustainable growth. All G20 countries must recognize that economic imbalances are a common concern, and that all major economies must to do their part to achieve rebalancing. Current account imbalances should be used as an indicator to trigger an assessment of the possible root causes of impediments to adjustment. In this context, the institutional economic policy set-up of the euro area as a whole must be fully taken into account. The European Union in this respect is putting in place a strong alert mechanism that aims at preventing internal economic imbalances. In Seoul we must also give a clear political commitment to cooperative and lasting solutions to the current tensions in currency markets, to allow exchange rates to be set in line with market fundamentals and to refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies. G20 members should consider the possible effects on their partners and the global economy and refrain from actions that may have negative spillovers."

To read the full letter, please visit: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/117545.pdf

SOURCE Delegation of the European Union to the United States