Ms. Stefania Salustri
Communication and Press Relations
Tel : +39 06.4546891- +39 06.45468919 - 348-3859419 Fax: +39 06-6796377 e-mail: stefania.salustri@aspeninstitute.it
sito web: www.aspeninstitute.it
Mrs. Novella Cavallari Program Assistant
Tel : +39 06.4546891- +39 06.45468921 – 331.6170024 Fax: +39 06-6796377 e-mail: novella.cavallari@aspeninstitute.it
sito web: www.aspeninstitute.it
PRESS RELEASE
Towards a new Bretton Woods for the global age
Paris, April 18, 2008 – The Aspen Institute Italia is dedicating its seventeenth Aspen European Dialogue to the topic The EU, the US and global disorder. The need for a new Bretton Woods. This year’s international conference will take place in Paris on April 18-19 at the Hotel The Westin Paris.
The conference will be held behind closed doors, while a Press Meeting open to the media is scheduled for Friday, April 18th at 5:15 pm. Interviews and briefings with individual participants can also be arranged in advance through our Press Office.
Scheduled participants will include Giulio Tremonti, Vice President, Chamber of Deputies;
Chairman, Aspen Institute Italia, Rome; Giuliano Amato, Minister of Interior, Rome; Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco, President and CEO, General Electric International, Brussels; Joseph Biden, Senator, United States Senate, Washington DC; Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Committee, European Central Bank, Frankfurt; Richard Burt, Senior Advisor, Kissinger McLarthy Associates, Washington DC; Francesco Caputo Nassetti, Director General, Deutsche Bank- London, Milan; Ferruccio De Bortoli, Editor, “Il Sole 24 Ore”, Milan; Steven Erlanger, Paris Bureau Chief, “The New York Times”, Paris; Martin Feldstein, President, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge; Fan Gang, Director National Economic Research Institute, China Reform Foundation, Beijing; Paolo Garonna, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva; Dan Gillerman, Ambassador of Israel of the UN, Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations, New York; Vittorio Grilli, Director General of the Treasure, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Rome; Daniel Gros, Director, CEPS-Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels; John C. Hulsman, Von Oppenheim Scholar in Residence, German Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin; Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition, European Commission, Brussels; Charles A. Kupchan, Senior Fellow and Director Europe Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, New York; Edward Luttwak, Senior Fellow, CSIS- Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC; Yves Meny, President, European University Institute, Florence; Mario Monti, President, “Luigi Bocconi” University, Milan; Mario Moretti Polegato, Chairman, Geox, Treviso; Ana Palacio Vallalersundi, Senior Vice President and
Group General Counsel, The World Bank, Washington DC; Michel Pebereau, Chairman, BNP Paribas; Chairman of the Advisory Board, Institut Aspen France, Lyon; Roberto Poli, Chairman, ENI, Milan; Alessandro Profumo, Chief Executive Officer, UniCredit Group, Milan; Rodrigo De Rato y Figaredo, former Managing Director, IMF, Washington DC; Paolo Savona, Vice Chairman Aspen Institute Italia; Full Professor of Political Economy, LUISS Guido Carli, Rome; Nikolay Spasskiy, Deputy Director General of Rosatom, State Corporation for Nuclear Energy, Moscow;
Philip Stephens, Associate Editor, “The Financial Times”, London; Jean- Claude Trichet, President, European Central Bank, Frankfurt; Hubert Vedrine, Managing Partner, Hubert Vedrine Conseil, Paris.
The conference will open with an analysis of the current international economic crisis. Is it a recession or will the situation improve fairly quickly? Should we expect the crisis to also have a significant impact on growth in Asian economies or will there be a “de-coupling”? And to what extent should governments start regulating their economies again? Special attention will be paid to the globalization debate and to the prospects of a new international agreement to reform the institutions created at the Bretton Woods Conference. The second part of the conference will focus on financial aspects, beginning with the relationship between the euro and the US dollar and the issue of transparency of financial institutions. The overarching question will be whether
“European-style” management of monetary and financial policies constitutes a strength or a weakness. Do the dual concepts of competitiveness and protectionism define the limits of possible action in pursuing effective economic policies in a crisis situation?
On Saturday, the conference will turn its attention to a significant strategic geopolitical issue, namely, the Greater Middle East, with a discussion of the role of Iran, the different international approaches to the issue of Israel, the geopolitical importance of oil and, more generally, the difficulty in finding a satisfactory equilibrium in the region. The conference will then close with an analysis of the themes that have characterized the foreign policy vision of the candidates for the US Presidency, and particularly their views on the transatlantic relationship. How much does Europe really count? What will be expected of the new incumbent in the White House? Will the America of 2009 lean towards a “community of democracies” or a “new concert of powers” based also on the involvement of non-democratic countries? Finally, the factors that could be central in putting together a European “proposal” for the new US administration will also be discussed.
