The G7 heads of state and government pose for a group photo overlooking the beach at the Carbis Bay Hotel in Cornwall, south west England. Image: keystone
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Climate change, Brexit, China – these points were discussed yesterday at the G7 summit
The heads of state and government of the G7 countries will meet in Cornwall, England, until Sunday. It’s about the big questions. An overview.
G7 countries want to donate billions of doses of vaccine
In the fight against the corona pandemic, the G7 countries want to help poorer countries with 2.3 billion vaccine doses by the end of next year, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The G7 group has a global responsibility, said Merkel on Saturday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay in southwest England. A final decision was not yet available.
The leading western industrial nations of the G7 include Germany, the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Japan. Before the beginning of the summit, host Boris Johnson had set the goal for the group of states to agree on a donation of one billion vaccine doses. It initially remained unclear whether the 2.3 billion vaccine doses mentioned by Merkel were just donations or also exports or the financing of the Covax international vaccination initiative.
Activists are arguing symbolically about a corona vaccination. Image: keystone
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had previously criticized Johnson’s billions donation as inadequate. “A billion is very welcome. But obviously we need more than that. ” One is “at war with the virus”. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least eight billion vaccine doses are necessary to ensure extensive immunity for 80 percent of the population in countries with low and middle income.
Shortly before the summit, the USA announced that it wanted to provide 500 million cans – 280 million of which are to be delivered by the end of the year, according to dpa information. The UK has pledged 100 million cans by the end of next year. These two countries had hardly exported vaccines so far.
For a long time, the EU was the only democratic region in the world that exported corona vaccine on a large scale. According to information from Brussels, around 350 million cans have been exported so far, which corresponds to around half of the total production volume. By the end of the year, the export volume is estimated to double to 700 million cans.
What next with China?
On the second day of the three-day summit, the G7 also looked for a common course in China policy. With a billion-dollar initiative to build infrastructure, it now wants to compete with the authoritarian superpower in Africa and Latin America, but also in Europe and Asia. The project is intended to be an alternative to the “New Silk Road” project launched by China in 2013, with which China is opening up new trade routes around the world. According to the US, the G7 initiative entitled “Build Back Better World” is to be anchored in the final declaration of the G7 summit in the southern English holiday region of Cornwall on Sunday.
According to US estimates, infrastructure worth 40 trillion US dollars is needed in parts of the world. US government officials reported that the pandemic made it even bigger. Together with the G7 partners, the private sector and other stakeholders, the USA wanted to “soon” collectively mobilize hundreds of billions for infrastructure investments in countries with low and middle incomes.
The fight against climate change is to be intensified
According to London, the leading western economic powers plan to raise US $ 100 billion (around EUR 82.5 billion) annually to finance climate protection in developing countries. A corresponding commitment will be made at the end of the G7 summit in the English county of Cornwall, the British government announced on Sunday night.
At the conference, for the first time, all seven participating countries had made a commitment to climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest, it said. In addition, a commitment to almost halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2010 is to be expected. This was an important step on the way to the UN climate conference in Glasgow in November. The envisaged measures included phasing out coal power at the earliest possible point in time, an end to almost all direct state subsidies for fossil fuels abroad and the gradual phasing out of cars with combustion engines.
The development organization Oxfam criticized the objectives as insufficient. The Paris climate goals could thus be achieved, but the G7 states “in view of their high responsibility for causing the climate crisis and their prosperity, which is sensational on a world scale (…), must reduce significantly more and more quickly in order to give poorer countries more flexibility in their to create climate-friendly transformation, »said Jörn Kalinski from Oxfam.
The earth has already heated up by around 1.2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. The fatal consequences: Depending on the region, there are more heat waves and droughts as well as heavy rain, storms, storms and floods.
Merkel and Biden talk about Nord Stream 2
Chancellor Angela Merkel met for the first time on the sidelines of the summit in Carbis Bay for a personal conversation with the new US President Joe Biden. It was also about the dispute over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which both sides now want to defuse. The Chancellor then said they were “on the right track”. She agrees with Biden that it is “existential and indispensable” for Ukraine to continue to participate in the gas transit from Russia to Europe.
Merkel and Biden in conversation. Image: keystone
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Three weeks ago, Biden’s government had partially given up its years of resistance to the controversial pipeline between Russia and Germany and waived sanctions against the operating company – also out of consideration for relations with Germany. A federal government delegation then traveled to Washington to discuss how to proceed. The talks continued thereafter. In essence, it is about how Ukraine can secure the billions in revenue from Russian gas transfer in the long term.
Biden and Macron «on the same wavelength»
US President Joe Biden made positive comments about the EU at his bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. “For my part, I believe that the European Union is an incredibly strong and lively entity,” said Biden on Saturday at a meeting with Macron on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall, southern England. The EU not only has the ability to deal with economic problems. It is also “the backbone” of NATO. Biden confirmed their cohesion.
Biden said of Macron: “We’re on the same wavelength.” In view of the pandemic, climate change and other crises, Macron emphasized: “What we need is cooperation.” It is therefore great to have a US President willing to cooperate. “They show that leadership means partnership.” Biden had already met Macron briefly on Friday evening.
Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden seem to like each other. Image: keystone
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The conversation gave the opportunity for an intensive exchange in order to act better together in the future, it was said after the official bilateral meeting on Saturday from the Elysée Palace in Paris. There is a need for full cooperation between the US and European allies in the areas of security, economic recovery and crisis management. It is now also important to quickly reform the World Health Organization to prevent future pandemics, it said. The meeting was an opportunity for Biden to underline the importance of the partnership between France and the USA.
Northern Ireland dispute tarnishes summit harmony
The dispute between the EU and Great Britain over Brexit special rules for Northern Ireland, however, clouded the summit harmony. EU top representatives urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the G7 summit with clear words to comply with agreements, but the head of government sees the EU as an obligation.
“Both sides have to implement what we have agreed,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday after a conversation with Johnson. The EU is absolutely in agreement on this issue. French President Emmanuel Macron also warned that Great Britain must keep the word given to the Europeans and respect the framework of the Brexit Treaty. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had made it clear to Johnson that the EU wanted to control the internal market without introducing border controls between Northern Ireland and the EU member Ireland. This point is contractually regulated.
Johnson threatened further unilateral measures to protect the territorial integrity of his country and explicitly did not rule out drawing the agreed emergency clause for the Irish border, the so-called Article 16. This would mean controls on the border between Northern Ireland and the EU Trigger member Ireland.
Oxfam activists at a protest on the sidelines of the G7 summit. Image: keystone
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The Prime Minister told Sky News that some EU politicians do not understand that the UK is a country. “I have to get that into their heads.” Johnson sees the ball on the EU side. The EU must be clear that “we will do what is necessary,” said Johnson.
For the G7, the Cornwall summit marks a new start after the era of US President Donald Trump, in which his foreclosure policy brought the group to the brink of split. Now the USA and the other large western democracies want to pull together again. US President Biden wants to weld the group of states together primarily through a hard demarcation from authoritarian states such as Russia and China. (dfr / sda / dpa)
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