But the commission, made up of five Republicans and five Democrats, avoided pointing the finger at either man's administration while there was plenty of blame to go round, it was evenly spread.
In their letter to President Sarkozy, laying down the priorities for the Cannes G20 Summit, David Cameron and five other heads of state put their finger on the problem: they said that confidence of citizens, businesses and markets had been damaged by a "lack of visible political will".