Biarritz (AFP)

Here are six things to watch for during the G7 summit in Biarritz from Saturday to Monday.

A test for the West

The G7 is going through a difficult period. Contested in his hegemony by the new powers, this club of liberal powers is divided, especially since the election of Donald Trump in the United States.

Will it be effective on major current crises? Emmanuel Macron seeks to demonstrate this by inviting other countries, such as India, and freeing himself from the final communiqué. "Rather than negotiating declarations, we will try to advance on coalitions" between countries of good will, explained the French president.

He hopes to avoid the fiasco of the last summit in Canada, where Donald Trump threw out the final communiqué he had just signed.

A Johnson-Trump axis?

This will be the first international summit for the new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, just weeks before the planned Brexit date on 31 October.

His statements about the divorce from the European Union will be scrutinized, especially as he must meet face to face with President Trump who multiplies inflammatory statements against the EU.

Will the summit see the emergence of a Johnson-Trump axis, with chain consequences for other diplomatic issues?

"I know a rumor has it that we would change our position with the meeting with the US president, but you will not see a radical change in our approach," said Friday a British diplomatic source.

The Amazon flames

The fires that have been raging for several days in the Amazon rainforest, the "green lung" of the planet, have made their mark on the menu of the summit. Accusing "inaction" Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson have decided to seize the problem, become "an international crisis".

"We will try to mobilize everyone to raise funds, to reforest as quickly as possible," said Emmanuel Macron in an interview with the online media Konbini. The French president, who puts the climate agenda "at the heart of this G7", wants to get commitments from its leaders - up to climate-skeptic Donald Trump - for the United Nations summit for the planet in September.

Manifestations and violence?

The entire region of the Basque Country, and even more so the seaside resort of Biarritz, are under high security with 13,200 policemen and gendarmes, supported by the army.

An event, authorized, gathering all the opponents of the G7, is expected Saturday, but the authorities also fear violence, especially in the town of Bayonne, near Biarritz, where businesses have barricaded themselves.

The organizers of the authorized demonstration between Hendaye and the Spanish city of Irun say they wait at least 10,000 people.

The Iranian nuclear crisis

The French president hopes to obtain from his counterparts gestures of appeasement on the Iranian crisis to save the international agreement of 2015 on the nuclear, denounced by the United States and of which Tehran threat to free itself progressively.

Macron met in Paris on Friday with the head of Iranian diplomacy who said things were going "in the right direction".

The trade war

The trade war between China and the United States, whose repercussions are likely to affect the whole world, is starting again.

Furious at the Beijing counter-attack, Donald Trump has opted for higher bidding. All of the $ 550 billion worth of Chinese products imported into the United States will be subject to even higher customs duties by the end of the year.

© 2019 AFP