A rising chorus of leading politicians is in favour of organising a world conference to tackle the structural flaws of current world finance and revamp the international architecture in this field. It goes without saying that a coming together of old and new economic powers is badly needed for such a historical task. But a world conference (a new Bretton Woods!) has to be well prepared.

Firstly, one needs to define the analytical underpinnings of the reconstruction of world finance. Keynes and Dexter White led their experts for a significant period of time, despite it being wartime, in order to produce a workable blueprint. We have to make sure that such a blueprint is available by the time decisions are made. The team led by Jacques de Larosiere could help a lot in this respect. Secondly, there is need for the major economic powers to see eye to eye on key issues. And here things are more complicated. I would very much hope the EU would take a leading role in coalescing efforts to revamp the international financial system and to overhaul the regulatory and supervisory frameworks so that finance can genuinely serve the economy.