Priorities and challenges for the g20 in australia's Presidency year - Winter 2014

Page created by Harold Henderson
 
CONTINUE READING
Priorities and challenges for the g20 in australia's Presidency year - Winter 2014
Priorities and challenges for the
G20 in Australia's presidency year

             Winter 2014

             With media partner
Priorities and challenges for the g20 in australia's Presidency year - Winter 2014
Priorities and challenges for the
G20 in Australia's presidency year

                    Report of Policy Insight

                organised by Friends of Europe

             in association with Australian Embassy

       within the framework of Australia's G20 Presidency

               with media partner Europe’s World

                         Winter 2014
                           Brussels
This report reflects the conference rapporteur’s understanding of
the views expressed by participants. Moreover, these views are not
necessarily those of the organisations that participants represent, nor
of Friends of Europe, its Board of Trustees, members or partners.

Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted, provided that full credit
is given to Friends of Europe and that any such reproduction, whether
in whole or in part, is not sold unless incorporated in other works.

Rapporteur: John Pollock
Publisher: Geert Cami
Director: Nathalie Furrer
Programme Manager: Patricia Díaz

Design: Cristina Frauca

© Friends of Europe - January 2014

This report is printed on responsibly produced paper
Table of contents

PRiOrities AND chALLENGES
for the G20 in Australia's
presidency year                    6
Growth and jobs                    6
Trust and inclusiveness            7
EU’S G20 economic priorities       8
Global governance                  9
A mature international actor      11
Discussion                        12

ANNEX I - Programme               15

ANNEX II - List of participants   16
6                                                         Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe

    PRiOrities AND chALLENGES
    for the G20 in Australia's
    presidency year
    “The questions we’ve been asking are how do we raise potential global growth
    going forward? How do we finance investment in infrastructure? What can we do
    to increase participation of labour? That’s where the Australian agenda comes in,
    Heather Smith, Australian G20 Sherpa said at a Friends of Europe Policy Insight
    discussion on “Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia’s presidency
    year. The meeting was organised in cooperation with the Australian Mission to
    the EU and chaired by Shada Islam, Director of Policy at Friends of Europe.

    Having taken over the G20 presidency from Russia on December 1st, 2013,
    Australia is uniquely positioned as G20 chair between the developed states
    in Europe and North America and the developing states of Asia-Pacific. An
    ostensibly ‘Western’ state with a free market economy and Westminster-style
    democracy, it also resides in the heart of Asia with a trajectory that sees it
    increasingly more aligned economically, with Beijing, Jakarta and New Delhi than
    with traditional partners in London, Paris or Washington.

    Prime Minister Tony Abbott has highlighted a lack of infrastructure, high youth
    unemployment worldwide and the need for a private sector-led recovery as
    Australia’s key priorities for the G20 in 2014.

    Growth and jobs
    Giving further details of the Australian agenda, Smith, said she saw it as important
    to keep up the momentum generated at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg. “The
    Russians did a very good job in creating a multi-year agenda focused on growth,
    jobs and investment; we’re moving away from the G20 as a crisis management
    tool and into a ‘peacetime’ role focused on rebuilding confidence in the global
    economy”. Smith noted the many challenges facing the G20 caused by overall
    slow growth rates. “We have large output gaps, high unemployment and inflation”
    she stressed, adding: “We are in a period of ‘shaky calm’.”
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014    7

“Given the interdependence of the global economy, the divide between domestic
and the international is now non-existent,” said Smith. Collective action was
important but she added: “We’re asking G20 countries what individual and
collective actions can member states take to promote trade, infrastructure
investment and employment.” Smith noted: “We’re looking at how we can manage
the spillover effect from individual states. We have some good momentum in G20
countries, what China is doing following the Third Plenum, what Prime Minister
Abe is undertaking in Japan with the ‘Three Arrows’ and energy sector reforms
in Mexico also.” This individual action needed to be operationalised at the G20
level.

Corporate tax avoidance was a priority, Smith said, adding: “We have a strong
commitment to have taxes paid where the economic activity is taking place and
working together to exchange information so that we have greater transparency
of financial transactions across G20 countries.” She noted that that infrastructure
was another Australian priority due to its fundamental role in promoting and
aiding growth. “Until now we’ve had monetary policy do the heavy lifting in terms
of growth. We’re looking to promote private sector investment in infrastructure
and focus on how we’re going to achieve that through competitiveness.”

Trust and inclusiveness
Smith conceded the process would not be easy: “G20 is a young organisation
it’s going to take time to build habits of cooperation and collaboration.” The
value of maintaining trust between G20 partners was important, she underlined,
adding that it would be vital in implementing the agenda post-Brisbane. From
Australia’s perspective, as G20 chair “the key to the future success of G20 lies in
outreach and understanding. We need to create a community that understands
G20’s relevance,” Smith observed. Australia’s approach was to increase G20’s
profile in the wider public by working with the multiple partner groups such as
the B2 Business Summit, the Civil Society Dialogue and G20 Youth Summits.

As for the anticipated brevity of the final communique issued at the Brisbane
summit in November this year, Smith observed, “all presidencies start off with
good intentions.”
8                                                                   Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe

              EU’S G20 economic priorities
              António José Cabral, the EU’s G20 Sherpa argued “the EU and Australian
              priorities fit very well because one of the values of G20 is that it allows us to
              reach cooperative solutions. This adds value to the agreements reached. It
              allows problems to be shared and discussed.” He said the institution was much
              like the European Union in aiding multilateral diplomacy.

              Cabral argued that boosting growth was an issue central to the preoccupations
              of the EU post-crisis. “We have Europe 2020 as a long-term growth strategy, as
              well as country specific recommendations. Our growth strategy is in three pillars:
              fiscal policy, structural reforms and target investment; we are particularly focused
              on structural reforms.”

“Europe fully supports the role played by G20 with enthusiasm;
we should, however, try to keep climate change a priority in spite
of the divided opinions between the member states.”
Antonio José Cabral, European Union’s representative to the G20.
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014   9

Concerning infrastructure investment, Cabral citing, Australian Prime Minister
Abbott’s speech in Davos, warned that “we have to make the case that physical
infrastructure investment must be matched with human capital investment” in
view of the IMF estimation that 300 million people were unemployed worldwide.
The G20’s approach towards infrastructure investment, he emphasised, should
not be one in which it is viewed as a developmental issue.

Infrastructure investment, he argued, had far wider effects beyond development,
he said, adding: “With infrastructure we all benefit. The G20 should give priority
to cross border investments that allow the different parts of the world to be
connected.” Cabral observed that trade plays a much more important role than
it did in the past. “There are huge trade negotiations taking place between
the major world powers, the EU has just concluded negotiations with Canada
and has others underway with the United States and Japan”. The G20 had
a role in supporting trade relating primarily to services, environmental goods,
competition and export credits. The G20, he indicated should however respect
the competences of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which should provide
the forum for negotiations, whilst G20 should provide the political impulse for
these deals.

“The G20 Sherpas met in Sydney and I was impressed with the clarity of the
objectives, the determination of the presidency, the pragmatic approach and
the commitment to the G20 as a multilateral exercise. We have the ingredients
of a successful presidency with which the European Union is more than ready
to contribute, said Cabral. He concluded that the G20 can be most proud of
the leadership it provided in the area of financial reform. “Financial reform was
at the heart of the G20 meeting in Washington in November 2008; in the weeks
after Lehman Brothers collapsed we prevented another ‘Great Depression’
from occurring.”

Global governance
Karel Lannoo, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for European Policy
Studies (CEPS), welcomed the enormous role played by the G20 in recent
years, echoing remarks by Cabral that the institution’s achievements in the last
10                                                         Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe

     five years were impressive, especially in the case of regulation of the financial
     services sector. This illustrated that global governance via peer pressure
     amongst member states was working.

     Lannoo welcomed the specificity of Australia’s G20 priorities. Too often he
     said in previous summits, the G20 agenda had been subject to revisions by
     states, becoming metaphorically ‘a Christmas tree’ with each country adding a
     specific amendment and alternatives to the G20 agenda.

                 “The G20 is a sign that global governance
                 is working, that peer pressure is working
                 and I think that is an unprecedented event
                 in our common history.”
                 Karel Lannoo, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for
                 European Policy Studies (CEPS)

     The role played by G20 in European financial reform over the last five years was
     extensive, he said, owing to the collective peer pressure that provided political
     cover to member states. “Many people here in Brussels would have heard
     Commissioners speaking saying ‘we need to do this because of the G20’.
     It has been used in Europe to drive forward unprecedented financial reform
     including bank recapitalisation.” On trade, Lannoo argued that the regional
     trade pacts such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership were
     more problematic. “We have agriculture tariffs of 40 percent and we are going
     to reduce them with the US but not with other countries.” Lannoo stressed that
     the proliferation of bilateral trade deals was not compatible with the multilateral
     trade agenda and expressed concern that the trend away from the WTO to
     bilateral deals would raise tensions due to their lack of inclusivity.

     Lannoo also expressed reservations over Australia’s focus on corporate
     taxation and on tax base erosion. “We have seen how impossible it has been at
     European level to do something about this issue. We have achieved at EU level
     only two directives harmonising corporate taxation and both of them date back
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014    11

to the 1990s.” As regards Australia’s focus on investments, Lannoo observed
that household pensions do not factor into the long term investments outlined
in the G20 agenda. “The channels for households to invest their savings into
pensions are limited and are not invested in the long term because of market
imperfections, the products do not exist for long term pensions.” This was a
problem the G20 would eventually have to face.

A mature international actor
Australia had a long history of punching above its weight, said Philomena
Murray, Professor at the University of Melbourne. Referring to Australia as a
“mature international actor”, Murray cited the country’s support for regional
architecture in the Asia-Pacific and the contribution made to humanitarian
aid and development. Australia’s identity in the Asia-Pacific was of enormous
interest to the world as was the 2013 white paper “Australia in the Asian Century”
that identified closer ties with East Asian actors as a priority. “This process can
be both advantageous and problematic in the Asia-Pacific context; owing to its
close ties with the United States”, noted Murray “Australia is too often not fully
accepted as an Asian nation.”

        “The challenge for Australia going forward is to
                                  advance and promote
                  discussion processes internationally;
                   this is where the G20 comes into its
                                  own as an institution.”
         Philomena Murray, Professor at the University of Melbourne

Australia as a successful G20 chair would need multilateral instincts in
approaching member states. “The challenge for Australia in the G20 and more
widely is the need to appeal to fundamental norms, interests and values of
the partners of the G20,” she said, underlining the diversity of opinions within
the institution. Ensuring the initiatives produced within the G20 agenda were
12                                                       Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe

     attractive for member states to pursue would require a high degree of diplomatic
     skill from Australia’s diplomats, she said, agreeing that the G20 could provide
     the political cover and impetus for individual member states to implement the
     domestic agenda.

     Murray added: “Australia needs to show a sustained leadership capacity,
     particularly as it seeks to build up habits of cooperation in the G20 as an
     institution.” Acknowledging the youth of the institution and emerging practices,
     she cited the gradual establishment of cooperation within the EU as an example.

                 “Australia has consistently supported
                 giving developing and under developed
                 countries greater say in global institutions
                 like the IMF, it’s important that institutions
                 reflect the global representativeness. It’s
                 also the key to getting inclusive growth.”
                 Heather Smith, Australian G20 Sherpa

     “Australia needs to be able to facilitate coalition-building and consensus-
     building within the G20, drawing on its relationships outside the G20,” Murray
     argued, highlighting that, as with other institutions, there were membership
     issues and therefore ‘we should keep in mind that there are states that feel that
     they should be part of the G20.” “The challenge in 2014,”Murray concluded,
     “is for Australia to show that it is an effective diplomatic player and mature
     international actor.”

     Discussion
     In the discussion that followed, Smith conceded that there was no ‘silver
     bullet’ for getting people back to work and warned that jobless growth was
     a real problem in G20 states. “We inherited from the Russian presidency,
     an employment task force that is focusing on structural, youth and female
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014   13

unemployment,” she said. “On an individual basis we’re asking countries, to
change policies best suited to their individual labour markets”. At G20 level,
she said collective action was focused on increasing female participation in the
labour force in order to increase economic growth.

On inclusive growth, the Australian G20 presidency was going to focus on
implementation in order to achieve inclusivity in global economic growth.
“Inclusive growth is how we think of underpinning economic development,”
argued Smith, adding: “I’ve asked the International Labour Organisation to do
a paper for the G20 Sherpas on inclusive growth”. The question of digitalisation
in the services sector and the structural change that will follow from economic
reforms in member states would be discussed, she said, as would global
governance, transparency on tax and exchange of information.

“The strength of G20,” argued Smith “can be the focus on cross cutting issues
like climate change.” The issue was a divisive one, said Smith, adding: “the
debate comes down to what set of polices can be used to combat climate
change”. Discussions could centre on a voluntary process of discouraging the
use of fossil fuels and greater action on financing and focus on renewable
energies.

Recent currency devaluations in emerging markets such as Turkey and
Argentina were being viewed with concern by the G20, she said. The main
challenges for emerging markets were the structural underpinnings that fuel
future growth, including taxation regimes, infrastructure, education and the
development of human capital.
14   Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014      15

Annex I – Programme
SESSION I
Policy Insight debate

The 9th G20 Summit in Brisbane in November 2014 will see a pivotal gathering of
presidents and prime ministers from the world’s leading industrialised and emerging
states to discuss global economics, trade and security. Set up in 1999 as a meeting
of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, the G20 confirmed its reputation
as an increasingly important forum for managing the global economy following the
financial crisis in 2008, when the first G20 Leaders Summit was held. With global
growth still subdued and many countries struggling to create enough jobs for their
people, what will be the key priorities for the G20 this year? Which challenges would
benefit most from leaders’ attention at the 9th G20 Summit in Brisbane in November
2014? Can the G20 deliver practical outcomes for the global economy? Will crucial
issues like youth unemployment, strengthening development and global financial
reform get adequate attention at the Brisbane meeting and other G20 gatherings
in Australia? Should the G20 be made more inclusive or would that make it more
unwieldy and inefficient? Is the G20 helping or hampering global governance? How
should it respond to the ever-expanding list of global challenges? What is the G20’s
role in dealing with non-traditional security challenges including climate change,
cyber security and human trafficking?

Heather Smith		Australian G20 Sherpa
Antonio José Cabral European Union G20 Sherpa
Karel Lannoo     	Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for European Policy
			Studies (CEPS)
Philomena Murray    Professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia

Moderated by Shada Islam, Director of Policy at Friends of Europe
16                                                                             Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe

ANNEX II – List of Participants
Georgios Altintzis, Policy Adviser, Economic and          François d'Adesky, Special Counsellor for
Social Policy Department, International Trade Union       Investments and Trade, Mission of Haiti to the EU
Confederation (ITUC)                                      Efehan Danisman, Masters Student, College of
Martin Alvez, Minister Counsellor, Mission of Uruguay     Europe
to the EU                                                 Baptiste Dardenne, Deputy Antici., Permanent
Salvador Andres Figueroa, Assistant, European             Representation of Belgium to the EU
Parliament, Directorate General for External Policies     Sean de Cleene, Vice President, Global Business
Richard Andrews, Assistant Secretary, International       Initiatives, Yara International
Policy and Engagement, Australia's G20 Task Force         Laurent De Smedt, Policy Officer, European Private
Hermann Aschentrupp, Deputy Chief of Mission,             Equity & Venture Capital Association (EVCA), Bastion
Mission of Mexico to the EU                               Tower
Mindaugas Ausra, Assistant, Council of the European       Peter Debaere, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University
Union                                                     of Ghent
Alejandra Ayuso, Minister & Chargé d'Affaires a.i.,       Polydoros Demetriades, Principal Administrator,
Mission of Argentina to the EU                            European Commission, Directorate General for
Laurent Bardon, Policy Officer, desk officer in charge    Education and Culture
of international aspects of trade relations with Japan,   Dave Deruytter, Head of Expatriates & Non-
European Commission, Directorate General for Trade        residents, ING Belgium
Johan Barnard, Counsellor: ECOFIN Coordination,           Geert Deschaepmeester, IT Manager, Mission of
Structure Funds, Cohesion Funds, TransEuro Webs,          Australia to the EU
Econ/Monetary Policy, External Relations, Permanent       Miguel D Desnerck, Publisher, Desnerck Media
Representation of the Netherlands to the EU
                                                          David Dewar, First Secretary, Mission of New Zealand
Hans-Christian Beaumond, International Relations          to the EU
Officer, European Commission, Directorate General
for Agriculture and Rural Development                     Carolina Diaz, Counsellor, Mission of Colombia to
                                                          the EU
Dries Belet, Desk Officer for G8/G20 and the
global economic agenda, European Commission,              Patricia Diaz, Programme Manager, Friends of
Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs    Europe Les Amis de l'Europe
Aivars Berners, Policy Adviser, European                  Susanne Doboczky, Vice President, Allianz Group
Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR)                  European Affairs Office
Aline Brandstatter, Assistant, Council of the             Morag Donaldson, Administrator, European
European Union                                            Parliament
António José Cabral, Senior Advisor, G8/G20,              Nicolas Dorgeret, Administrator, European
Europe 2020, General Economic policy orientations,        Parliament, Committee on International Trade
International Financial Institutions, Trade, European     Jorge Fabra Portela, Desk Officer for G20 and
Commission, Cabinet of EU Commission President            G7, European Commission, Directorate General for
José Manuel Barroso                                       Economic and Financial Affairs
Jason Collins, European Australian Business Council       Pernille Falck, Trade Policy Advisor, Permanent
                                                          Representation of Denmark to the EU
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014                               17

James Franey, European Affairs Correspondent,              Tim Joris Kaiser, Economic Analyst, Desk Officer
Euronews                                                   China, European Commission, Directorate General for
Tetsuro Fukunaga, Executive Director, Japan                Economic and Financial Affairs
Machinery Centre for Trade & Investment (JMC)              Andrey Kasiyanenko, Counselor, Mission of the
Alessandro Gallo, Student, Vrije Universiteit Brussel      Russian Federation to the EU
(VUB)                                                      Juergen Kettner, Head of sector- Transport,
Periklis Giannopoulos, Economic and Trade                  European Commission, Directorate General for
Counsellor, Permanent Representation of Greece to          Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid (DEVCO)
the EU                                                     Gauri Khandekar, Researcher, Head of Asia
Frazer Goodwin, Senior Advocacy Adviser, Save the          Programme, Fundacion para las Relaciones
Children EU Advocacy Office                                Internacionales y el Dialogo Exterior (FRIDE), Brussels
                                                           Office
Nicola Gordon-Smith, Economic Counsellor, Mission
of Australia to the EU                                     Florian Kobele, Policy Co-ordinator, Assistant to
                                                           the G20 Sherpa of the European Union, European
Nick Greenstock, Managing Director, Gatehouse              Commission, Secretariat General
Advisory Partners
                                                           Aris Kokkinos, Journalist, eurobole.com
Dalia Grigonyte, Economic Analyst, European
Commission, Directorate General for Economic and           Willem Kooi, Desk Officer, European Commission,
Financial Affairs                                          Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs
Christopher Halburd, Head of Office, Environmental         Joseph Kraus, Policy Manager, The One Campaign
Law Service                                                Maciej Krzysztofowicz, Policy Officer, Agricultural
Joop Hazenberg, Founder & Director, The Next               Trade Policy Analysis, European Commission,
Generation For Europe (NGE)                                Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural
                                                           Development
Françoise Herbouiller, Policy Officer, WTO, OECD
and Dual Use, European Commission, Directorate             Hendrike Kuehl, Policy Director, Transatlantic
General for Trade                                          Business Council, Transatlantic Business Dialogue
                                                           (TABD)
Susannah Hodson, Second Secretary, Mission of
Australia to the EU                                        Athina Kylafi, EU Government Relations, BASF EU
                                                           Liaison Office
Xiaobing Hong, Second Secretary, Mission of the
People's Republic of China to the EU                       Caroline Lambert, Member of Cabinet, Financial
                                                           IssuesInternational Financial Institutions,
Richard Howitt, Member, European Parliament,               Development, Trade, Taxation, Humanitarian Aid
Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary            & Crisis, European Commission, Cabinet of EU
Committee                                                  Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard
Shada Islam, Director of Policy, Friends of Europe         Karel Lannoo, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for
Les Amis de l'Europe                                       European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Tatiana Isticioaia Budura, Counsellor, COASI,              Patrick Larkin, Senior Adviser, Energy Charter
Permanent Representation of Romania to the EU              Secretariat
Marta Kadar, Senior Advisor, Permanent                     Michel Lavollay, Founder, Public Private Partnership
Representation of Hungary to the EU                        Europe
18                                                                           Friends of Europe | Gobal Europe

Duncan Lewis, Ambassador, Mission of Australia to       Valérie Moutal, Business Continuity Coordinator,
the EU                                                  European Commission, Directorate General Human
Andrea Lode, Policy Advisor, Europe and                 Resources and Security
International Affairs, German Insurance Association     Katrina Murray, Policy Advisor, Mission of Australia
(GDV)                                                   to the EU
Jonathan Lukas, Program Officer, Global Water           Philomena Murray, Professor, University of
Institute                                               Melbourne School of Social and Political Sciences
Rainer Lütkehus, EU Correspondent,                      Lubica Nejezchlebova, Counsellor, Trade Policy
Energieinformationsdienst Hamburg                       Committee, Permanent Representation of the Slovak
Tamas Maczak, Policy Officer, South and South East      Republic to the EU
Asia, Australia, New Zealand, European Commission,      Christopher Newman, Editorial Assistant, Europe's
Directorate General for Trade                           World
Jacques Malache, Senior Director, International Press   Catherine Olier, Policy Advisor, EU Essential Services,
Agency                                                  Oxfam International EU Advocacy Office
Isabelle Marchand, Head of European Affairs,,           Nienke Palstra, EU Policy Officer, Transparency
Belgian Finance Federation (FEBELFIN)                   International Liaison Office to the EU
Wouter Marsoul, Account Manager, Etihad Airways         Liliana Pasecinic, Head of Sector International
Marina Martinez-Garcia, Programme officer, Centro       Relations, European Commission, Joint Research
para el Desarrollo Technologico Industrial (CDTI),      Centre
Brussels Office                                         David Plunkett, Ambassador, Mission of Canada to
Lachlan McKenzie, PhD student, University of            the EU
Melbourne, School of Social and Political Sciences      Gordana Popovic, Research Programme and
Stewart Mills, G20 Coordinator, European                Scientific Officer, European Research Council
Commission, Directorate General for Development         Executive Agency (ERCEA)
and Cooperation - EuropeAid (DEVCO)                     Ian Radcliffe, Director for Training and Consultancy,
Russel Mills, Head of Brussels Office and Global        European Savings Banks Group/World Savings
Director Energy & Climate Change Policy, Dow            Banks Institute (WSBI)
Courtenay Mitchell, Assistant, European Parliament      Marcel Radunski, Vice President Legal &
                                                        Government Affairs, Siemens EU Affairs Office
Dominique Mitchell, Press and Communications
Officer, European Federation of Food, Agriculture and   Nickolas Reinhardt, Director, Afore Consulting
Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT)                            Sebastien Rojon, Intern, European Parliament
Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit, ACP, Africa, Caribbean     Julia Rokicka, Assistant, European Parliament
and Pacific, South Africa, UN/FAO and G8/G20,           Shane Ryan, Policy Adviser, Mission of Australia to
European Commission, Directorate General for            the EU
Agriculture and Rural Development
                                                        Rainer Schierhorst, International Cooperation Officer,
Andrea Mogni, Director, Global Economy, Global          European External Action Service (EEAS)
Governance Institute
                                                        John Scowcroft, Executive Adviser, Global CCS
                                                        Institute
Priorities and challenges for the G20 in Australia's presidency year | Winter 2014   19

Heather Smith, Deputy Secretary and G20 Sherpa,
Office of the Prime Minister
Elía Sosa, Counsellor, Political Affairs, Mission of
Mexico to the EU
Guergana Stanoeva, Economist, European
Commission, Directorate General for Economic and
Financial Affairs
Andreas Stein, Head of Unit, Equal Treatment
Legislation, European Commission, Directorate
General for Justice
René Steiner, Administrator, European Commission,
Directorate General Human Resources and Security
Diane Strauss, Assistant to the Programme Director
and Economist, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
European Policy Office
Alexandre Stutzmann, Diplomatic Adviser to the
President, European Parliament, Cabinet of the
President
Jindrich Trejbal, Officer, Financial Policy Unit,
Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to
the EU
Simon Twisk, Counsellor, Mission of Australia to the
EU
Ann Vanhout, Policy Officer, Global Challenges,
European External Action Service (EEAS)
Eustace Theo Wallace, Second Secretary, Mission of
Saint Kitts and Nevis to the EU
Alastair Walton, European Australian Business
Council
Sidonie Wetzig, Policy Officer, Friedrich-Ebert-
Stiftung (FES) EU Office
Graham Wilkie, Policy Officer, European Commission,
Directorate General for Education and Culture
Friends of Europe – Les Amis de l’Europe
4, Rue de la Science, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0) 2 893 9823 – Fax: +32 (0) 2 893 9829
Email: info@friendsofeurope.org
Website: www.friendsofeurope.org
You can also read