MARSEILLE, France, September 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The G7 finance ministers, whose meeting ended on Friday night, refrained from adopting the traditional final communique. However, the host of the meeting, France's Economics, Finance and Industry Minister Francois Baroin, presented a list of core provisions on which the parties see eye to eye.
"We did not aim to reach a common plan," he said, summing up the meeting. "Each country has its own characteristics. We should not follow the logic of universal solutions that are suitable for each state."
According to some observers, this approach has relieved the G7 of the need to take concrete initiatives to overcome crisis tendencies. However, the countries participating in the meeting in Marseille expressed their willingness to "give a coordinated response to the pressures of challenges" in view of "clear signs of slowing growth."
The ministers welcomed the package of measures U.S. President Barack Obama proposed on September 8 to create jobs and promote an economic recovery 447 billion dollars worth. They also called for the speedy translation into life of the plan for aid to Greece, approved by the eurozone countries on July 21.
Special attention on the list of core provisions is paid to the problem of improving the tax policy. In this regard, Baroin pointed to the need for a "careful balance" in order to not endanger "the delicate process" of recovery, of course, with respect for the "peculiarities of the national economies."
France and Germany advocated the idea of imposing a tax on financial transactions - so-called "Tobin tax" – but it failed to receive the approval of other partners in the G7. During the working meeting the British delegation made it clear it would not support such an initiative. A similar position was expressed by the United States.
Baroin said that the debate would continue at future meetings, especially in the G20. He hinted that at the forthcoming meetings in the extended format the major powers would bring to the fore the problem of insufficient correlation of the economies of the developing countries with domestic consumption.
According to analysts, the outcome of the G7 finance ministers are unlikely to help ease the pessimistic mood on the markets - in Europe the weekly session on the stock exchanges ended with yet another collapse of quotations. The US market reacted the same way.
The head of the European Central Bank (ECB) Jean-Claude Trichet, who took part in the meeting in Marseille, said succinctly: “It is none of our responsibilities to constantly monitor the situation on the stock exchanges. We need to think about solutions in the long term."
He offered no comment on the reasons for the resignation of the ECB's chief economist and member of its board, Jurgen Stark. This news arrived when the meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers in Marseille was still in progress.