The G7 is meeting today in the middle of the olive groves of Apulia to talk about war and migration. A special guest is also there. The answers to the most important questions about the summit.
Like every year, in a peaceful place, somewhere in Germany, Canada, Italy, France, Japan or the USA, workers have been welding manhole covers and building fences for weeks, snipers are on roofs and thousands of police officers are in the surrounding hotels. Anyone who stands on the coastal road in the southern Italian village of Savelletri this Thursday would see long columns of black limousines coming up the narrow streets. The 50th summit of the G7 states has begun. It comes at a time full of crises and upheavals.
What are the G7 anyway?
The G7 is a group of seven important industrialized countries. In addition to Germany, it includes France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada and the USA. Unlike an international organization such as the UN, the G7 has no permanent administrative structure. Rather, it is an informal forum for the exchange of ideas between the participating countries.
It is the year of the big anniversary: In 1975, exactly 50 years ago, six heads of state and government of the major industrial nations met for the first time for a world economic summit. The invitation was extended by the then German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and the French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Also present: Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the USA.
The meeting was intended to develop solutions to the economic problems of the 1970s. A year later, Canada was admitted as the seventh country. At first, the G7 continued to deal with purely economic issues, but later foreign and security policy were added.
After the end of the Cold War, Russia joined the elite club in 1991, officially becoming the eighth member at the end of the 1990s. The G7 became the G8 – and then the G7 again. Due to Russia’s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, the other heads of state and government decided in 2014 to exclude President Vladimir Putin from future meetings.
Under what conditions will this year’s summit take place?
This year, Italy holds the G7 presidency, which is why the heads of state and government are meeting in Apulia, the region at the heel of the country. Between olive trees and the turquoise Adriatic Sea lies the luxurious five-star hotel “Borgo Egnazia” – a small village made of light natural stone. Around 2,600 police officers have been deployed for the summit, which will last until Saturday, and an additional 1,500 soldiers will ensure the security of the heads of state and government.
When entering Italy, holidaymakers must be prepared for longer waiting times: the country has already increased its border controls since June 5. To this end, the Italian Interior Ministry has temporarily suspended the Schengen Agreement, which regulates the abolition of border controls within the EU.
In addition to the seven member states, the European Union is also part of the summit, represented by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. For several years now, the G7 leaders have also invited other countries to their meetings, including this time Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as a special guest: for the first time at a G7 meeting, the Pope has also been invited.
What topics will be covered?
A central point on the agenda of this year’s meeting is the war in Ukraine. More than two years after the Russian invasion, the country is in a difficult situation: despite massive support from Western states, Russia is threatening to gain the military upper hand. Ukrainian President Zelensky will once again appeal for more support for his country: he needs more extensive weapons, ammunition and air defense systems. Possible ways to end the war and funds for reconstruction will also be discussed. Following the G7 meeting, a peace conference will be held in Switzerland, in which other countries, although not Russia, will take part.
The war in Gaza and the way Western partners treat Israel will also be discussed. For months, critical voices have been growing, condemning the massive destruction and the numerous civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and calling on Israel, in increasingly harsh terms, to cease hostilities.
A matter close to the heart of the host, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is migration – or rather, its strict limitation. At the summit, she set up a working group specifically for this purpose. Meloni is likely to feel strengthened in her position by her success in the European elections: she ran on the promise of bringing illegal immigration to Europe to a virtual standstill. Italy wants to work more closely with African countries such as Libya, Egypt and Tunisia within the EU and wants to pay them a lot of money so that in return they prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.
Meloni also wants to strengthen cooperation with African countries in other areas, such as commodity trading and sustainable energy. Several African heads of government and the president of the African Central Bank have therefore been invited to Apulia.
Does it make sense to talk about global problems without countries like China or India?
When the G7 was founded 50 years ago, the participating countries were the undisputed economic superpowers. In the meantime, however, the boundaries of power have shifted, other countries have caught up massively or even overtaken individual western industrial nations – and are now an integral part of global security and economic issues. In 2005, the G8 therefore invited the emerging countries of India, China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa to the summit.
However, this “G8 plus 5” format was ended after three years and replaced by the newly founded G20. This larger industrial club of nations still exists today. In addition to the original G7, it includes China, Russia, Australia, Brazil, India, Argentina, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico, South Korea and the EU.
What criticism is there of the G7 meetings?
The G7 is criticized year after year. The high costs of the summits are just a minor point. The meetings are little more than a PR stunt where nice-sounding promises are made, say critics. But they do not solve the world’s real problems. According to them, between 75 and 85 percent of the G7’s agreements are regularly fulfilled. The breakthrough in the climate negotiations was particularly memorable: after the seven states agreed in 2015 at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees, this goal was made binding in the Paris Climate Agreement a short time later. Whether it will actually be achieved is another matter.
Another criticism is that the meetings are an elitist format. G7 decisions are made by a few governments, but affect many other states – without them being involved in the process. Supporters respond that the agreements in small circles lead to a high level of effectiveness. The participating states often agree on fundamental points, so that they can – at least in theory – act quickly and decisively.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
