An Experts’ Meeting was held on 22 October 1999, by CIDSE’s "Task Group on Social Justice" and Caritas Internationalis in collaboration with the University of Antwerp, on the subject of "Taxing excessive financial speculation to prevent social crisis". This meeting aimed at stimulating a critical discussion of various proposals---with 30 academics, EU and UN officials, CIDSE advocacy officers, and representatives of other NGOs, and it was part of the agreed process for promoting within CIDSE a debate on the issue of financial speculation.

CIDSE, (International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity) is a network which brings together sixteen Catholic development organisations located in Europe, North America, and New Zealand. Caritas Internationalis (CI) is a network of national relief, development, and social-service organisations in 198 states and territories throughout the world.

In their position paper on "Advocating for Greater Social Justice"(1) the two networks make the following declaration: "CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis see an urgent need for regulating excessive financial speculation with particular attention to the impact on impoverished populations. Responsible international organisations should issue concrete recommendations on how to establish a ‘New Financial Architecture’ and how to curb excessive financial speculation (for example through such mechanisms as a currency transaction tax)."

Thanks are expressed to Anthony Clunies Ross, Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland) who kindly agreed to write this report.

Mgr. Diarmuid Martin, Secretary of the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace, introduced the meeting from an ethical perspective based on Catholic Social Teaching.

Dr. Danny Cassimon/ University of Antwerp (UFSIA), Belgium gave the first presentation on the proposal of Prof. Paul-Bernd Spahn/ University of Frankfurt, Germany for a particular use of a foreign-exchange transaction tax. Then Rodney Schmidt/ North-South Institute, Canada, presented his study on how to make a foreign-exchange transaction tax feasible. Prof. Luc van Liedekerke/ University of Antwerp (UFSIA) spoke on Global Public Policy and opened the discussion, stimulated by comments from Prof. Anthony Clunies Ross.

Two parallel working groups gave opportunities to ask questions, discuss issues and raise concerns:

• After an introduction on Global Public Policy, CIDSE Advocacy Officers exchanged views on how to facilitate a process for preventing future financial crises.
• A critical presentation concerning technical questions related to the implementation of a currency transaction tax stimulated discussion with academics from UFSIA.

Bart Bode
Broederlijk Delen,
Convenor of CIDSE’s "Task Group on Social Justice"

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