If past experience is anything to go by, the current crisis will have an adverse effect on the entire world, with the poor - the least able to bear the costs of economic hardships - the hardest hit. They are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of the crisis long after it is over. This grim but realistic prediction was made by a group of some of the world's most distinguished economists who met at the IPU Headquarters on 10 and 11 March 2009 for a brainstorming session under the chairmanship of Nobel Prize laureate, Joseph Stiglitz.
The Group, officially known as the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, was set up at the initiative of the current President of the General Assembly, Mr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. The Commission has been mandated to analyse the causes of the crisis, assess its impacts on all countries and suggest adequate measures to avoid its recurrence and restore global economic stability. The recommendations of its outcome report will be used to prepare a major United Nations conference on the impact of the crisis on development, due to take place in early June 2009.
The IPU’s offer to host the Commission's session in Geneva, graciously accepted by the United Nations, bears out the mutually beneficial nature of relations between the two organizations. At the same time, it is to be seen as a contribution by the world organization of parliaments to the strenuous efforts deployed the international community to find a truly inclusive response to the economic crisis.
In his welcoming remarks before the Commission of Experts, the IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, pointed out that there existed a strong link between the work of the Commission and the concerns of national legislators. As elected representatives of the people, they are confronted with an urgent need to review national economic, financial and development policies and to hold the government to account in the execution of measures to restore the resilience of the banking system, halt the economic downturn, preserve jobs and ward off recession.
Much of today's crisis-related debate in parliaments has to do with the reform of the international financial architecture. Parliaments want to see the Bretton Woods institutions more accountable and more open to parliamentary oversight. In particular, they want to see greater and more systematic interaction between parliament, the executive and the Bretton Woods institutions at the national level. The IPU expects the Commission of Experts to tackle these issues in its report.
A unique opportunity to address these and related questions from a parliamentary perspective and with the participation of leaders of major economic and financial institutions will present itself at the Parliamentary Conference on the Global Economic Crisis, to be organized by the IPU in Geneva on 7 and 8 May 2009. The programme of the Conference includes panel discussions, hearings, round tables and thematic debates focusing not only on some of the immediate financial questions, but also on broader macroeconomic issues and on questions of social development, employment and multilateral cooperation. Special attention will be paid to the role of parliaments in addressing the crisis.
More information about the forthcoming Parliamentary Conference on the Global Economic Crisis can be found on the IPU website.
