On August 24-26, the next G7 summit will be held in the resort town of Biarritz on the Atlantic coast of France. The leaders of the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Italy will come together to discuss the most important problems for them. Personally, the composition of the participants will hardly change compared to the summit held in Canada last year. The only newcomer is Boris Johnson, who took over as British Prime Minister in July. At the same time, for the chairman of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giuseppe Conte, who announced his resignation a few days ago, this forum is likely to be the last.
French accent
French President Emanuel Macron, chairing the G7, also invited India, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Rwanda to participate in the forum (as guests). The summit will be attended by representatives of the EU and the African Union.
- View of the Biarritz Summit venue
- Reuters
- © Christian Hartmann
Priorities on the G7 summit agenda include overcoming inequality, conserving biodiversity and tackling climate change, countering terrorism, information technology and defending democracy, as well as collaborating with Africa, a continent that has traditionally been Paris’s area of focus.
Another typical French feature of the Biarritz Summit is the invitation to the forum of representatives of the fashion industry, who must sign a special agreement to combat climate change. Representatives of such brands as Gucci, Zara, H&M showed interest in the event.
In addition, earlier, Emmanuel Macron on his Twitter called on the G7 countries to discuss forest fires in the Amazon, which led to his public dive with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaru. He accused the French president of a "colonial mentality."
Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest - the lungs which produces 20% of our planet's oxygen - is on fire. It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let's discuss this emergency first order in two days! # ActForTheAmazonpic.twitter.com / dogOJj9big
- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 22, 2019Experts interviewed by RT noted that due to the specifics of the political style of the French president, most likely the forum owner will try to use it as much as possible for self-affirmation and to promote topics that are personally priority for him.
“For Macron, this is another reason to declare himself as the leader of the whole of Europe, as opposed to, including Germany,” said Dmitry Egorchenkov, director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, in an interview with RT. “Macron will do everything to make this summit seem the most powerful, interesting and eventful on the agenda, so that it seems that France is almost dictating its adamant will to the entire world community.”
Unresolved Odds
On the eve of the summit, President Macron, in an interview with Le Monde, said he intended to “bring back the vitality of negotiations and dialogs to the G7.” Nevertheless, the publication itself notes that the countries of the "group of seven" are more than ever divided.
Before the forum, the newly made British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, at which he demanded a review of the Brexit agreements. Berlin agreed to take London’s position into account, but Paris refused to make concessions.
At the same time, President Donald Trump has repeatedly advocated for Brexit. On August 20, he had a telephone conversation with Boris Johnson in which the parties discussed a future free trade agreement between the two countries. According to Trump, he will meet with Johnson at the G7 summit to talk about this topic.
- Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson
- © Christophe Petit Tesson / Pool via REUTERS
The United States and its European allies, like on the eve of the summit held a year ago, share issues of international trade, the attitude towards the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2016 and the nuclear deal with Iran. Moreover, on the last point, the situation worsened, as a result, Washington and Tehran have been balancing on the brink of conflict in the Persian Gulf since May, while European countries and Japan call for restraint.
However, as noted on the eve of the White House summit, the American leader is going to speak separately with some participants in the forum. In particular, in a conversation with German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, Trump intends to discuss "Germany's dependence on Russian gas." This journalist said a certain anonymous representative of the administration of the American president.
Among other issues that Donald Trump intends to raise during the summit, the situation in Venezuela and Hong Kong - he is going to discuss them with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau).
In addition, the US president plans to talk with Macron about the tax on the services of the largest digital companies, introduced in France in mid-July, which has affected US IT giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Trump called it "stupidity" and even threatened to impose duties on the import of French wine, which Paris "has not yet seen."
According to Euronews with reference to the same anonymous representative of the Trump administration, the American president is also going to call on the leaders of the "seven" to open their markets for American goods.
According to a professor at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov Andrei Manoilo, in addition to the eternal issues constantly present on the agenda of world summits, such as inequality or climate change, we should expect discussion and more specific problems.
“This is the US trade war with China and the emerging economic differences between the United States and Europe. The issues of nuclear deterrence and the Iranian issue will definitely be discussed, ”Manoilo said in an interview with RT.
According to Dmitry Egorchenkov, the members of the Seven will focus on “issues of economic interaction and economic competition of Western countries.” Also, he said, the G7 could discuss cooperation with Russia.
Russian question
A week before the start of the Biarritz summit, Emmanuel Macron talked about the possibility of restoring the G8 format and returning Russia to it. Following this, Donald Trump said that he would support the resumption of Russia's participation in the G8. Recall that in 2014 the Western countries themselves left the G8 format, refusing to go to the summit in Sochi.
Trump made a similar statement a year ago, but then the countries of Europe did not support him. This time, Macron said he was not opposed, however, he associated this possibility with the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. Angela Merkel emphasized that the situation on this issue "has not yet advanced so far."
Boris Johnson, in turn, believes that the arguments in favor of Russia's return to the G8 are still “to be found.” Canada also opposed. Foreign Minister Hristia Freeland associated this issue with the “return” of Crimea to Ukraine and the end of the war in the Donbass.
During a visit to France on August 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that our country does not refuse contacts with the G7 countries, but the G8 format no longer exists. Later, the official representative of the Foreign Ministry of our country, Maria Zakharova, said that if the West wants to return Russia, it should formulate concrete proposals.
In turn, Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that Russia's return to the G8 is not an end in itself. In addition, he said the discussion of global problems without countries such as India or China is ineffective.
“Other formats, such as the G20, look more advantageous,” Peskov emphasized.
According to experts, so far all the proposals to return Russia to the G8 only look like a game to the public.
"The probability of Russia returning to the G8 is zero, because all European politicians who allegedly want our country to return to this format say that the conditions for Russia have remained the same: the return of Crimea, the withdrawal of the so-called" Russian "troops from the Donbass, and so on," - noted Andrey Manoilo.
In turn, Dmitry Egorchenkov emphasized that Russia is not very eager and is eager for the “group of seven”.
“The G7 format is a relic of a bygone era. In modern conditions, it remains the format for coordinating the positions of Europeans and the USA, but with the priority of the American position. In this regard, the statement about Russia's return to the G8 format looks rather funny, the expert noted.
Logical result
Analysts do not expect that some landmark decisions will be made at the Biarritz summit. As French President Emmanuel Macron noted on Wednesday, a joint statement following the meeting will not be published. The reason is the controversy between US President Donald Trump and the rest of the G-7.
At a summit in Canada last year, President Trump refused to sign the final communiqué and left the forum prematurely. Experts do not exclude that the situation may well repeat itself during the current meeting.
- US President Donald Trump
- Reuters
- © Jonathan Ernst
“A repeat of last year’s Trump incident is likely. I must say that it is typical for him to leave negotiations ahead of schedule, ”notes Andrey Manoilo. - He can slam the door on any issue on the agenda, for example, by starting to demand from Europe to pay the United States for many years of security. I must say that Trump does it very artistically, but always includes emotions only when it suits him. With this behavior, Trump does not leave a negotiation space for his political partners, who are obviously weaker than him. ”
Recall that in addition to the G7 summit last year, President Trump prematurely left the summit with the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in February 2019. In November 2018, due to disagreements between the US and China, without signing a comprehensive declaration, the APEC member countries summit ended.
However, according to Dmitry Egorchenkov, the G7 format has long "outgrown itself" and is becoming less and less significant for the world.
“The G20 format is becoming really important, in which the leading world economies are taking part, not only today, but also tomorrow, such as India, China,” the political scientist emphasizes. “The Seven is becoming a club for Western countries, which is discussing some of its own issues, often not of interest to the rest of the world.”