French Minister suggests global governance is the only solution to world financial crisis!

DAVOS, Switzerland - January 31, 2009 - Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, today warned that the global economic crisis could provoke “social unrest” and echoed Gordon Brown’s caution against countries opting for protectionism to fight the downturn.

Ms. Lagarde was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos as a series of wildcat strikes at energy plants continued across the UK, following a walkout at an oil refinery in Lincolnshire over claims that British tradesmen were being barred from construction jobs by contractors using cheaper foreign workers.

This week in France, around one million workers staged a one-day strike against President Sarkozy and his handling of the economic slump.

Ms. Lagarde said, “Social unrest and protectionism are the two major risks of the world economic crisis.” She added that the risks were increased by “having to engage taxpayers’ money and by hampered growth."

Yesterday, the British Prime Minister told delegates at Davos that countries must not opt for protectionism to stem the economic crisis.

Mr. Brown said, “This is a time not just for individual, national measures to deal with the global financial crisis. This is the time... for the world to come together as one. In these unprecedented times, I’ve come here to Davos to say that politicians and business leaders, all of us, have an urgent responsibility to rise to the challenges of leadership.”