Reaction to the impact of the G20 summit was mixed in the European media. Some editorialists praised the summit as a historic and others said it was long on rhetoric and short on specific practical solutions.

Nov.17.- The European media was divided over the results of the G20 weekend summit in Washington, with some newspapers optimistic and others more skeptical about the goals set out at the gathering of leaders from the world's largest economic powers can be achieved.

According to Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the success of the summit "remains an open question". The daily broadsheet highlighted what it characterized as a "huge transatlantic divide on how to achieve new financial structures for the 21st century." The paper pointed out, "On one side there was France's Nicolas Sarkozy with his grandiose plans for regulating the international financial markets and on the other side -- the Americans, along with possibly the British, concerned about the role of New York and London as the world's leading financial centers, who could be opposed to some necessary reforms."  The Munich-based newspaper was cautious about what to expect from the summit, "Much hope is invested in US President-elect Barack Obama, who has assembled an extraordinary team of economic advisors. Still one should not expect too much when the next world financial summit convenes at the end of April in London -- roughly 100 days since Obama would assume office."