FINANCIAL CRISIS
Comece: “deploying a global governance””The time has come to deploy a worldwide governance to bring more justice, transparency and accountability into the worldwide financial markets”. This was asked by the bishops of the “Social Affairs” Commission of Comece, the Commission of the EU Bishops Conferences, at the end of their meeting that took place in Paris on October 8th and 9th about “The future of welfare and social policies in Europe”. The meeting discussed the crisis of the financial markets and its consequences on the social policies in Europe. As to this, the president of the Commission, the archbishop of Munich Reinhard Marx, gave a statement in which he insists that it is urgent to “deploy a global governance “to bring more justice, transparency and accountability into the worldwide financial markets, as the Church has been proposing for some time”. In addition, it is important “that our governments and the European institutions, from now on, begin to worry about those citizens who – through no fault of theirs – will have to shoulder the social consequences of the financial crisis. It is precisely at this time – concludes Marx – that the European social model must work to prevent the financial crisis turning into a political and social crisis as well”. France: bishops, “the poor are the first victims”The French bishops are concerned about the worldwide financial crisis. In a release, the Council for Family and Social Questions of the French Bishops Conference gives the alarm: “our societies are upset. And, as usual, in these circumstances, it is the poorer ones who are the first innocent victims”. The release – signed by six bishops who are members of the Council – reads: “The crisis reveals that there are negative consequences if the financial logics pushed to the extreme are disjointed from economy and their sole purpose is to look for instant profit”. “This crisis – add the bishops – spurs all of us to question ourselves on our lifestyles, on our relation with money, on our way of making our savings bear interest and relying on borrowing”. The French bishops hail “the efforts” that have been made over the last few days by the governments and political leaders” to solve the worldwide financial crisis, but they also state that “it is essential that the proposed measures have a different goal, not just that of maintaining a financial system that has turned out to be weak”.The bishops think that “cooperation between the states” should be promoted, especially in Europe, and systems must be developed “to steer our economies, so that they will serve people, not profit only”. But all this also requires an “ethical reflection and a commitment”. The bishops are asking such reflection especially for the “speculative practices aimed at reaping the greatest profit in the short term”. The French bishops include in the list of commitments a revision of “the payment of wages and bonuses to the directors of financial institutions, especially if they contributed to the crisis or might profit from it in a careless way”. In addition, the bishops ask “to implement other ways for a better traceability of money and a better detection of risks”, that “economy may develop a more reasoned use of borrowing” and “the financial market may be directed to serve a productive economy adapted to local requirements”. “The current crisis – ends the release – may be an opportunity to strengthen our social bonds. When finance states it is its own goal and is only driven by a longing for profit, then it loses its mind”. But “when the concern for man, for every man, becomes a priority again, then confidence is reborn”. Austria: KSOE, “controlling the financial market””The financial market must be better controlled”, said Markus Schlagnitweit, director of the Katholische Sozialakademie (KSOE – Catholic Social Academy), commenting negatively on the far-reaching banking and financial crisis that is investing the world. Interviewed by the Austrian Catholic press agency Kathpress, Schlagnitweit emphasized the need for “more effective national and international mechanisms of control to be created in future”. He described as “a serious imbalance” a situation in which “losses are nationalized” by individual states and in the last analysis by the taxpayer, while profits remain private”. “Rescue interventions must be followed up by a far-reaching analysis of the causes that led to the global collapse of stock markets. Over the last few years the financial market has become a kind of gambling casino”, he observed: “attempts have been made to make money from everything and nothing”. The current crisis, however, represents an opportunity, according to Schlagnitweit, to “finally introduce proper regulations”, primarily “controls”. The head of KSOE also warned of the “problematic” profits based “only on speculation and not on products or services. The gaps in tax law in this regard need to be closed”, he added. Schlagnitweit further criticized the Austrian Parliament, which had been unable, prior to the elections, to take any decision on the taxing of financial transactions and called for an Austrian intervention in favour of the introduction of an authority to control the financial market in Europe.Italy: the concern of the bishops of the Marche”The Bishops of the Marche express their solidarity with and participation in the hardship of thousands of workers and their families in our Region who are experiencing situations of growing precariousness and great uncertainty at the present time”. So begins the statement that of the bishops of Italy’s Marche Region issued at the end of the Marchigian Episcopal Conference recently held in the Marian sanctuary of Loreto. The statement refers to the crisis of various businesses in the region as well as to the wider international crisis: “We don’t know how long this period of difficulty might last – say the bishops – but it is one that, in the light of what is happening on the financial markets, is increasingly assuming global and destabilising connotations. What is clear is that we need to react immediately, taking every possible measure to attenuate the consequences of this crisis and especially to foster trust and hope”. The bishops address their “heartfelt appeal” to “institutions, administrators, entrepreneurs, trades-unionists, workers, politicians, and social forces, urging them to make every effort to alleviate the difficulties of those who risk losing their jobs and to support the firms that are the lifeblood and the productive capacity of our territory”.
