Emergence from the crisis dominates the agenda.

20 January: inauguration of Democrat Barack Obama to replace Republican George W. Bush as President of the United States. The President-elect has already announced that he hopes to pass his economic stimulus package, currently under review by the Democratic-led Congress, by early February “at the latest”. Estimated at USD 775 billion in public spending and tax cuts, the plan aims to create 3 to 4 million jobs.

From 28 January to 1 February: the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Business leaders, heads of state and academics will gather for this meeting whose overall theme will be “Shaping the Post-Crisis World”. As a reminder, in January 2008, the gloomy predictions from economist Nouriel Roubini in his opening address met with a certain degree of scepticism. They turned out to be true.

Starting 2 April: the next G20 summit to be held in London to monitor the financial regulation measures taken jointly by the twenty most powerful countries. Their aim: to prevent a repetition of the current crisis and help restore confidence. The meeting is a follow-up to the previous G20 summit held in Washington in November. Barack Obama is expected to attend, which will be his first official visit to Europe.

From 7 to 18 December 2009, the United Nations is organising the conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to introduce the agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol expires in 2012. In spite of the crisis, the new agreement is expected to be more ambitious than the previous one.