Paris – 26 August 2009



Mr. Prime Minister,
Mr. President of the Senate,
Mr. President of the National Assembly,
Mr. Minister of Foreign and European Affairs,
Ministers,
Parliamentarians,
Ambassadors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On September 15, 2008, a year after the beginning of the subprime crisis, the entire world was pushed to the edge of a precipice by the American authorities’ decision to let Lehman Brothers fail. A decision, let me remind you, that was taken without any consultation with the United States’ principal partners.

On that day, the world saw that endless deregulation and a blind trust in financial players’ sense of responsibility had led to widespread irresponsibility caused by the irresistible lure of quick profits.

On that day, the world saw that a certain form of capitalism based on speculation and unlimited competition between money markets threatened the real economy with death.

That day marked the end of a type of globalization in which market players imposed their own law, in which everything was subject to speculation, in which the price of oil or wheat, just like stocks, could double or triple in a few months before collapsing.

On that day, nations found themselves alone, confronted with their responsibilities.

They alone could stop the panic, restore confidence.

They alone, through their interventions, could prevent a chain reaction spanning the entire globe from carrying off the savings and jobs of tens of millions of men and women in [...]