Papst Benedikt erhofft
sich vom G-20-Gipfel in London einen Ausweg aus der Krise. In einer Botschaft an die
Teilnehmer des Gipfels warnt er vor nationalen Alleingängen oder Protektionismus.
Bei seiner Afrikareise Mitte März habe er festgestellt, dass die Staaten dort besonders
unter der Krise litten. Doch sei außer Südafrika kein Staat südlich der Sahara bei
dem Gipfel vertreten. Die Teilnehmer des Treffens müssten sich vor Augen halten, dass
diejenigen, deren Stimme am wenigsten politisches Gewicht habe, am schwersten von
der Krise betroffen seien, für die sie nicht verantwortlich seien. Umgekehrt hätten
gerade jene Staaten ein enormes Potenzial, um zum Fortschritt aller beizutragen, erläuterte
der Papst. Es sei daher wichtig, die multilateralen Mechanismen und Strukturen der
UNO zu nutzen, um die Stimme aller Länder zu hören. Man müsse sicherstellen, dass
die vom Gipfeltreffen unternommen Schritte und Maßnahmen von allen mitgetragen würden.
Die aktuelle Krise habe ihre Ursache letztlich in einem Ethik-Defizit der
Wirtschaftsstrukturen, führte der Papst aus. Sie habe auch das „Gespenst einer Streichung
oder drastischen Reduzierung der Hilfsprogramme vor allem für Afrika und andere unterentwickelte
Länder ausgelöst“. Benedikt XVI. erinnerte die Staaten an ihre Selbstverpflichtung,
die extreme Armut bis zum Jahr 2015 zu beseitigen. „Dies bleibt eine der wichtigsten
Aufgaben unserer Zeit“, so der Papst. Wir dokumentieren hier den
Briefwechsel zwischen Papst Benedikt und dem britischen Premierminister Gordon Brown
zum G-20-Gipfel im englischen Original. Quelle ist der Vatikanische Pressesaal.
Brief
von Benedikt XVI. an Premierminister Brown
His Excellency The
Right Honourable Mr. Gordon Brown Prime Minister
Dear Prime Minister,
During
your recent visit to the Vatican, you kindly briefed me on the Summit taking place
in London from 2 to 3 April 2009 with the participation of representatives from the
world’s twenty largest economies. As you explained, the aim of this meeting is to
coordinate, with urgency, measures necessary to stabilize financial markets and to
enable companies and families to weather this period of deep recession, in order to
restore sustainable growth in the world economy and to reform and substantially strengthen
systems of global governance, in order to ensure that such a crisis is not repeated
in the future.
It is my intention with this letter to express to you and to
the Heads of State and Heads of Government participating in the Summit the Catholic
Church’s appreciation, as well as my own, for the meeting’s noble objectives based
on the conviction, shared by all the participating Governments and international organizations,
that the way out of the current global crisis can only be reached together, avoiding
solutions marked by any nationalistic selfishness or protectionism.
I am writing
this message having just returned from Africa, where I had the opportunity to see
at first hand the reality of severe poverty and marginalization, which the crisis
risks aggravating dramatically. I was also able to witness the extraordinary human
resources with which that Continent is blessed and which can be offered to the whole
world.
The London Summit, just like the one in Washington in 2008, for practical
and pressing reasons is limited to the convocation of those States who represent 90%
of the world’s gross production and 80% of world trade. In this framework, sub-Saharan
Africa is represented by just one State and some regional organizations. This situation
must prompt a profound reflection among the Summit participants, since those whose
voice has least force in the political scene are precisely the ones who suffer most
from the harmful effects of a crisis for which they do not bear responsibility. Furthermore,
in the long run, it is they who have the most potential to contribute to the progress
of everyone.
It is necessary, therefore, to turn to the multilateral mechanisms
and structures which form part of the United Nations and its associated organizations,
in order to hear the voices of all countries and to ensure that measures and steps
taken at G20 meetings are supported by all.
At the same time, I would like
to note a further reason for the need for reflection at the Summit. Financial crises
are triggered when – partially due to the decline of correct ethical conduct – those
working in the economic sector lose trust in its modes of operating and in its financial
systems. Nevertheless, finance, commerce and production systems are contingent human
creations which, if they become objects of blind faith, bear within themselves the
roots of their own downfall. The only true and solid foundation is faith in the human
person. For this reason all the measures proposed to rein in this crisis must seek,
ultimately, to offer security to families and stability to workers and, through appropriate
regulations and controls, to restore ethics to the financial world.
The current
crisis has raised the spectre of the cancellation or drastic reduction of external
assistance programmes, especially for Africa and for less developed countries elsewhere.
Development aid, including the commercial and financial conditions favourable to less
developed countries and the cancellation of the external debt of the poorest and most
indebted countries, has not been the cause of the crisis and, out of fundamental justice,
must not be its victim.
If a key element of the crisis is a deficit of ethics
in economic structures, the same crisis teaches us that ethics is not “external” to
the economy but “internal” and that the economy cannot function if it does not bear
within it an ethical component.
Accordingly, renewed faith in the human person,
which must shape every step towards the solution of the crisis, will be best put into
practice through a courageous and generous strengthening of international cooperation,
capable of promoting a truly humane and integral development. Positive faith in the
human person, and above all faith in the poorest men and women – of Africa and other
regions of the world affected by extreme poverty – is what is needed if we are truly
to come through the crisis once and for all, without turning our back on any region,
and if we are definitively to prevent any recurrence of a situation similar to that
in which we find ourselves today.
I would also like to add my voice to those
of the adherents of various religions and cultures who share the conviction that the
elimination of extreme poverty by 2015, to which Leaders at the UN Millennium Summit
committed themselves, remains one of the most important tasks of our time.
Right
Honourable Prime Minister, I invoke Almighty God’s abundant blessings upon the London
Summit and upon all the multilateral meetings currently searching for ways to resolve
the financial crisis and I take this opportunity once again to offer you warm greetings
and to express my sentiments of esteem.
From the Vatican, 30 March 2009
Brief von Premierminister Brown an Papst Benedikt
1O
DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1A 2AA
THE PRIME MINISTER
31 March 2009
Your Holiness
Thank you for your letter of 30 March
about the London G20 Summit. It was a pleasure to meet you recently. I was inspired
by our discussion to redouble my efforts to ensure the G20 Summit does not forget
the poor or climate change.
Millions of families around the world are struggling
as the recession takes its toll. We must provide real help to get people through these
tough times and take action to lay the foundations for recovery. That is why we must
get an ambitious outcome from the London Summit on 2 April.
As you say, the
world's poorest are most at risk from this crisis, even though they have not been
responsible for creating it. Protecting the poorest is one of my top priorities and
we stand ready to support the most vulnerable in society. It is vital that rich countries
keep their promises on aid, even in these tough times.
The UK has also already
announced a contribution to the World Bank's Rapid Social Response Fund that will
protect some of the poorest from the impact of the crisis. We are calling on others
to make a contribution, to provide real help for people in difficulty. We must not
turn away from the poor at a time when they most need our help.
I hope the
G20 will also help create momentum for the vital Copenhagen Climate talks and back
a low carbon recovery. I am committed to doing all I can to help ensure our transition
to a greener future.
As well as helping the poorest and supporting a low
carbon recovery, the G20 must also take bold action to help kickstart global trade
and give the IMF the funds it needs to support big emerging economies, increasingly
starved of global finance. Millions of jobs will depend on this.
Finally we
must agree tough measures to better regulate banks and hedge funds and ensure the
shadow banking system is regulated.
As you say, the poorest, particularly Africa,
need a greater voice in the G20. This is why we have extended the participation at
the London Summit beyond the traditional members of the G20 to include African and
Asian regional representation, in the form of the New Economic Partnership for African
Development (NEPAD) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). We will
of course also have the heads of the IMF and World Bank, who work to support the economies of
the emerging and developing world, and I am delighted that the UN Secretary General
will be joining us. Additionally, in advance of the London Summit, I hosted detailed
discussions in London with African leaders to hear views and have taken these into
account
This is a decisive moment for the world economy. We have a choice to
make. We can either let the recession run its course, or we can resolve as a world
community to unite, to stand with millions of people struggling in these tough
times, to fight back against this global recession that is hurting so many people
in every continent. I hope that the world's leaders can come together to rise to this
challenge.