The conciliatory words of Emmanuel Macron prior to the start of the G-7 summit inaugurated yesterday are not innocent. What it is about, explained the French president, is to reduce tensions between the main world leaders. Or at least, being optimistic, of not increasing them. Because the statements of the host are the most reliable testimony of the sour moment of relations that the great powers are going through and, by extension, the rest of the world. The search for understanding to coordinate policies and outline common goals seems to have never shone so much because of their absence. And the problem is that not only the economic situation sweeps them, but also: the intensified commercial war between the US and China, the apparent and inevitable hard Brexit, the ghost of the German recession, Russia, Italy, Iran ... and the most recent crisis in the Amazon, where the inactivity of Jair Bolsonaro could seriously affect trade relations between the EU and Mercosur. But the problems have also been set within the G-7. Increasingly in question its representativeness - of bringing together 70% of the world's GDP to 40% - and its effectiveness - two consecutive years of incapacity at the time if it wants to jointly sign a final communiqué; There are several voices that indicate a crisis of latent legitimacy for years that has emerged.

Despite Macron's apparent willingness, in his arduous work of presenting himself as the leader of Europe - he met in the prolegomena of the summit with Trump -, the tense reality was discovered by the president of the European Council by marking the impassable red lines of the EU. Neither the return of Russia to the group will be possible as long as Putin's authoritarian drift continues, neither hard Brexit is an option, nor will the economic pressure on Bolsonaro cede and, if Trump extends his tariff offensive to French wine, will he respond with the same currency . Protectionism , geopolitical conflicts, environmental threats, domestic crises and bilateral disagreements mark the pulse of a summit in which almost no one speaks a common language.

And while world unity falters, demagogy multiplies. The counter-summit , the protest demonstration against the G-7 that gathered yesterday in the French town of Hendaye and in Irun about 15,000 people, was confirmed as a miscellaneous claims that prayed against immigration policies prayed for the freedom of the ETA prisoners. Thus, in a "festive and family atmosphere", the last great head of ETA, David Pla, could be seen, speaking with the general coordinator of Sortu, Arkaitz Rodríguez. Strange partners to get close to if all you want is to govern for everyone.

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