    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [October 18, 2008]
    [Pages 1322-1325]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to a Meeting With European Union Leaders at Camp
    David, Maryland
    October 18, 2008

        President Bush. I want to welcome two friends to Camp David:
    President Sarkozy of France, who is representing the European Union, and
    President Barroso of the European Commission. We're really glad you're
    here.
        I'm looking forward to an important discussion of the global
    financial crisis, which is having an impact on hard-working people all
    across the world. The first task is to stabilize the financial markets
    in our own countries. Given that the world has never been more
    interconnected, it is essential that we work together, because we're in
    this crisis together.
        That's why over the past few weeks, the United States and our
    partners in Europe have cooperated closely to address this challenge.
    Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and
    four other central banks carried out a coordinated interest rate cut.
    Last weekend, G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors approved
    a plan of action to stabilize our markets, rebuild confidence in our
    financial systems, and restore the flow of credit to our businesses and
    our consumers.
        As part of this action plan, leaders in Europe have taken measures
    to provide financial institutions with additional capital, provide
    credit guarantees, and increase deposit insurance.

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        In the United States, we're taking systematic and aggressive steps
    to help banks rebuild capital and resume lending. For example, the
    Treasury Department will directly inject capital into banks by
    purchasing equity shares. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has
    temporarily guaranteed most new debt issued by insured banks, which will
    make it easier for these banks to borrow needed money from each other.
    The Federal Reserve is launching a new program to provide support for
    commercial paper, a key source of short-term financing for America's
    businesses and financial institutions.
        These are historic measures, suited to our system, which I believe
    will work. These measures will take time. We're dealing with a
    significant problem. But the American people and our friends around the
    world can know that we have confidence that the measures will work.
        In addition, G-8
    leaders issued a statement this week
    expressing support for an international meeting on the financial crisis.
    I've been in touch with Prime Minister Aso of
    Japan, who happens to be the President of the G-8, and we've been
    consulting with the Japanese. I look forward to hosting this meeting in
    the near future. Both developed and developing nations will be
    represented. And together we will work to strengthen and modernize our
    nations' financial systems, so we can help ensure that this crisis
    doesn't happen again.
        For this meeting to be a success, we must welcome good ideas from
    around the world. So I'm looking forward to hearing from President
    Sarkozy and President Barroso this afternoon and from other leaders in
    the days ahead. And of course, I'll share my ideas as well.
        As we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to
    avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the
    foundations of democratic capitalism, a commitment to free markets, free
    enterprise, and free trade. We must resist the dangerous temptation of
    economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that
    have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape
    poverty around the world.
        This is a trying time for all our nations. I am confident that we
    will overcome the challenges we face. With determination and focused
    action, we will weather this crisis, return our economies to the path of
    prosperity and long-term growth.
        Mr. President.
        President Nicolas Sarkozy. President, my dear George, thank you for
    having invited us. We--and by that I mean, I, myself, and President
    Barroso--have a mandate from the 27 members of the European Union to
    come here and say first and foremost that this is a worldwide crisis,
    and therefore, we must find a worldwide solution.
        Each region of the world, each part of the world--to begin with, the
    United States and then the European countries and now Asia--are trying
    to find an answer to the crisis. But this answer will be all the more
    effective insofar as we find it together, we speak with one and the same
    voice, and we build together the capitalism of the future.
        I say things that I deeply believe here. This may be a great
    opportunity if we do not fall back into the hateful practices of the
    past, practices that have led us exactly where we are right now. Now,
    the President of the United States is right in saying that protectionism
    and closing one's borders is a catastrophe. He is right to say that it
    would be wrong, catastrophic, to challenge the foundations of market
    economics. But we cannot continue along the same lines, because the same
    problems will trigger the same disasters. We can only go forward with a
    sense of responsibility, and that those who have made the mistakes bear
    the brunt of their errors and shoulder that burden of responsibility.
        And we have come here on behalf of Europe to say to this great
    American nation that we wish to build a better world, the

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    world of the 21st century, that we wish to work hand in glove in
    building this world with you. But we must not waste any time. We want a
    summit--the nations of the
    G-8--as has been stated--and no doubt the G-5 countries--so that
    together with Asian states and others, we find a worldwide solution.
    This must be done forthwith, as President Bush has said, possibly even
    before the end of the month of November.
        And we believe that insofar as the crisis began in New York, then
    the global solution must be found to this crisis in New York. All of us
    putting our heads together, we must look on the fundamental rules that
    will apply to this 21st century of ours. We live in the 21st century,
    but we continue to apply 20th-century rules. Hedge funds cannot continue
    operating as they have in the past; tax havens, neither. Financial
    institutions that are under no supervisory control, this is no longer
    acceptable; this is no longer possible. Together among friends, among
    allies, we must be able to say to the world that we are determined to
    find a solution together, to find answers together.
        George, my friend, together with Jose Manuel, myself, we speak with
    one and the same voice. We have brought European nations together. That
    was no easy task. There were British traditions, French traditions,
    German traditions, Latin traditions, but we found a solution. And why
    were we able to do so? Quite simply because this is such a serious
    crisis, it is such a systemic crisis.
        And it is on that note that I wish to end. Why must we make haste?
    We must make haste because we must stabilize the marketplace as swiftly
    as possible by coming up with answers. Once calm has been restored, we
    must avoid at all costs that those who have led us to where we are today
    should be allowed to do so once again. We believe in the capacity and
    the ability of the American people to come up with the answers the world
    is waiting for, is expecting, because this sort of capitalism is a
    betrayal of the sort of capitalism we believe in.
        And that is the reason why, with President Barroso, we have come to
    make Europe's voice heard. And next week, we will be chairing the
    Europe-Asia summit and get across the same message.
        In today's world, this world of ours, we cannot leave anyone out--
    anyone out of the global worldwide solution that we need to this crisis.
    Thank you, Mr. President, for having invited us. Thank you for using
    your term of office right up until the very end to help the world find
    the answers to a crisis that we must contain. We must not give way to
    fatalism.
        President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. Mr. President, George, thank
    you for receiving us here at Camp David. This is a global financial
    crisis that requires global solutions. Europe is taking decisive action.
    Our 27 member states and European Union institutions have worked and
    have agreed this week on a common framework for directions to deal with
    the financial crisis. This includes measures to address liquidity in
    interbank markets, recapitalization of banks, and guaranteeing
    households' deposits. Coordination and consistency of countries'
    decisions is the way to secure an efficient response to these
    unprecedented challenges. For these unprecedented challenges, we need an
    unprecedented level of global coordination.
        European Union and United States account for a very significant
    share of world finance. Around 77 percent of world wholesale finance is
    from the United States and from Europe. We Europeans and Americans must
    now join efforts and extend our cooperation to major developed and
    emerging countries. We must act swiftly to respond to the urgency, but
    we must also look forward at the medium and long term.
        The international financial system, its basic principles and
    regulations and its institutions need reform. We need a new global
    financial order. Together, the European Union and the U.S., we can make

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    a difference. Together, we should show the way towards an international
    response to the financial crisis and contribute to global growth.
        This is why Europe wants the calling of an international summit as
    soon as possible to launch an effective world response to world crisis.
    It's precisely because if you live in open societies and open
    economies--open societies need rules, the rule of law, the rule of
    democracy. Markets also need rules; if possibly, commonly agreed rules.
    And as President Sarkozy just said, we'll be this week also in Beijing
    for the ASEM summit, where we hope to engage also with our partners
    around this very line.
        Addressing the financial crisis must go hand in hand with providing
    our enterprises and citizens the conditions for creating wealth and
    jobs. I really believe we have a very strong responsibility. Thank you
    very much for receiving us.
        President Bush. Thank you, Jose.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:27 p.m. Participating in the meeting were
    President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, in his capacity as President of the
    European Council; and President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso of the
    European Commission. President Sarkozy spoke in French, and his remarks
    were translated by an interpreter.