The co-spokespersons of the European Green Party, Monica Frassoni and Philippe Lamberts, have outlined the Greens' demands for the G20 Summit which will take place in Toronto, Canada, on June 26th and 27th.
"Past G20 meetings have failed to agree on adequate measures to ensure that the global economy better serves the interests of the world's people, rather than privileged elite.
"In Pittsburgh in 2009, the G20 leaders shied away from effective reform of the financial system while the London summit in April 2009 failed to grasp the opportunity to tackle the economic crisis and combat climate change by launching a global Green New Deal.
"If this summit is to be more than a photo-opportunity for the leaders of the world's most powerful economies, binding commitments must be made, particularly in terms of the urgent need for a financial transaction tax.
"While the EU governments present in Toronto claim that they will be pushing for an agreement to introduce a financial transaction tax, the reality is that they are in a very weak position and will have almost no influence because the EU allowed the UK to veto the introduction of just such a tax at the EU summit in Brussels last week."
Frassoni and Lamberts concluded: "We also share the anger of our colleagues in the Canadian Green Party at the Canadian government's determination to keep climate change as low down on the summit's agenda as possible."