Meeting of economic powers: G20 summit in Brazil: The divided global community

At the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the differences between the world’s leading economic powers on key issues became clear once again. A joint summit declaration was only achieved through minimal compromises on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, which were painful for Western countries. Host Brazil, on the other hand, can be satisfied with the implementation of its agenda.

The G20 includes the large Western democracies such as the USA, Germany and Great Britain, but also authoritarian states such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. Between the two camps are hosts Brazil and countries such as India and South Africa. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did not even put the two wars on the agenda. Lula pursued an agenda that primarily emphasized the issues of the so-called “global south,” i.e. the emerging countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Poor sentences about Ukraine, not a word about the Hamas massacre

Only a few poor sentences about the Ukraine war made it into the final communiqué. A condemnation of Russia? None. Likewise, the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 was not included in the document. Before the summit, the German side had said that such a negotiation result would be “unacceptable”. In the end, Germany still agreed.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz was disappointed in this regard. Given that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been bombing Ukraine mercilessly for 1,000 days in blind megalomania, it would be too little if the G20 did not find clear words about Russia’s responsibility in this issue, said Scholz. “I would have liked it to be different.” Regarding the war in Gaza, he said it would have been helpful if people had said: “It all started with a terrible and brutal terrorist attack on Israel.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said the text would have been better if it had been more explicit. When it comes to Ukraine, it falls short of the formulations that have already been reached. “I think we need to make it very clear indeed that this is a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine and that our priority today is to achieve lasting peace.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokeswoman said the statement was “disappointing but not surprising.” She referred to a statement from a G7 ministerial meeting at the weekend that described Russia as the “only obstacle to a just and lasting peace.”

Hardly any more initiatives from the outgoing US President

The fact that the concerns and positions of the Western democracies were hardly received at the summit may also be due to the fact that the US President will soon be leaving office. For Joe Biden, the G20 summit was a kind of farewell to the world stage. His participation in the summit was overshadowed by Donald Trump’s entry into the White House in January.

The outgoing president can hardly make reliable US promises anymore, because Trump is likely to reverse a large part of his policies. Compared to other summits of this kind, the USA was noticeably reticent to announce new initiatives. The president limited his public appearances during the summit in Rio to the bare minimum – there was also no press conference.

Scholz pursued by K-Question at the summit

What Biden has already experienced could be in store for Scholz: withdrawal from the top candidacy in the next election. While Scholz sat at the table with the world’s big names in Rio, there was increasing discussion about it in his party. The Chancellor made the Ukraine war his central summit topic – unimpressed by the fact that the topic was not on the agenda. Biden gave him the template with permission for Kiev to use weapons with a range of up to 300 kilometers against Russian territory. Scholz still stuck to his clear no to the delivery of the Taurus rockets.

However, he received applause from the wrong side. “I think that Scholz’s current position is a responsible position,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who represented his President Putin, who remains in Moscow, in Rio. Criticism, however, came from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Lula had not invited: “After (Putin’s) statements about nuclear weapons, I think it is time for Germany to make a corresponding decision.”

Hunger, global warming, taxation of the super-rich

For Brazil’s President Lula, the summit in the coastal metropolis of Rio was a success. He was able to assert himself on key issues and included his most important points, such as the fight against hunger and poverty, climate and reform of international organizations, in the final declaration. Even the controversial billionaire tax, which the USA and Argentina, among others, wanted nothing to do with, made it into the paper.

The G20 countries agreed to work for effective taxation of the super-rich. Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) sees this as a real summit success. “This agreement is not the end, but the beginning of an important path towards greater fairness worldwide,” she said. “In percentage terms, most billionaires today pay significantly less taxes than a teacher or a cleaner.” That is unfair.

NGO criticizes passage on climate protection

In Rio, the G20 countries also reaffirmed the internationally agreed goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. From the Federal Government’s perspective, it is positive that states are reminded of their obligation to submit improved climate protection plans to the UN by next year at the latest, which will keep the 1.5 degree target within reach.

However, climate activists criticize that the final document does not say that all states are committed to moving away from oil, coal and gas. The “lack of a commitment from the world’s richest and largest emitters to move away from fossil fuels in the final communiqué” is shocking, says Stela Herschmann, climate expert at Observatório do Clima, one of the most important Brazilian civil society networks on the climate agenda.