PM Gillard Firms Up Aussie Position in G-20 Summit, Catches Ire of EU leaders, IMF Chief
Prime Minister Julia Gillard indeed left a mark as the G20 summit on Los Cabos, Mexico ended Wednesday, at first earning the ire of European leaders for her unsolicited economic advises and then attracting a second-look from the fashionable Christine Lagarde as the gathering neared its conclusion.
The Daily Telegraph said on Thursday that Ms Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had complemented the Australian leader for her fashion sense while attending the conference that gathered for two days the world's leading economies.
Ms Gillard apparently cheered up the world leaders who planed in to Mexico from all corners of the world with the way she dressed up for the numerous G20 functions during the summit, The Telegraph reported Ms Lagarde as saying.
The remarks came from somebody that according to Vanity Fair, a leading fashion authority, is one of the world's best dressed female executives, who also had recently won hundreds of millions in pledges from countries that were initially reluctant to take part in beefing up what the IMF called as its firewall fund.
Ms Lagarde's words carry enough convincing tones that she may somewhat douse the fireball unintentionally generated by the Prime Minister when at the onset of the meet she unleashed lectures that call on Euro leaders to act decisively on their financial woes.
Buoyed by what she calls as a robust Australian economy, Ms Gillard urged Euro policy managers to follow the example of the country, which has eluded threats of recession by embracing fiscal discipline without losing sight on aiming for economic growth.
Her main theme was: if Australia can do so then Europe should have no problem in treading the same path.
But the Europeans appeared not easily budged even by solid statistics as the head of the European Commission issued a statement that while ideas offered by G20 leaders are welcomed, Euro leaders need to listen to them.
The region's proud stance was echoed Wednesday by newly-elected French President Francois Hollande, who insisted that "we can have differing points of view ... Europe must have its own response."
"It must not be given to us from the outside," The Telegraph reported Mr Hollande as saying.
Yet it appeared that Euro leaders accepted in large part the economic reforms that economies outside of the eurozone have been pushing for the region to seriously consider.
"We support the intention to consider concrete steps towards a more integrated financial architecture, encompassing banking supervision, resolution, and recapitalization and deposit insurance," the G20 final communiqué said.
The bitter pill has been the core campaign of U.S. President Barack Obama, fully-aware that further hiccups coming from Europe will derail the fragile economic recovery pace in the United States and likely threaten his political survival later this year.
And he was being backed all the way by Ms Gillard, who herself faces the spectre of defeat, despite her economic credentials, if the political tide is not altered in Australia by next year.
But her confidence obviously unscathed, Ms Gillard said before leaving Mexico: "My engagements here in Mexico have reinforced in me how strong the Australian economy is."
"(Australia) really is an island of strength in a world of economic upheaval," the Prime Minister told reporters.
And she has all the reasons to remain in high spirits en route to Brazil as she remained faithful to the Aussie agenda during the G20 summit plus the thought of winning some fashion points, courtesy of the lady chief of IMF.