The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, China increasingly assertive from an economic and military point of view, Africa and migration, Artificial intelligence. There is all this and much more on the agenda of the 50th summit G7 which opens today, Thursday 13 June, and ends on Saturday 15 in Borgo Egnazia in Puglia. The leaders were welcomed by Giorgia Meloni, strengthened by her success in the European elections, which instead weakened Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, while Joe Biden – who will leave already on Friday evening – is in full electoral campaign, as is Rishi Sunak, who is unlikely to be prime minister again after July 4th.
Program and who participates
Today will be dedicated to Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky present, who will sign a bilateral security agreement with the American president and hold a joint press conference. While the Sherpa negotiations continue, an agreement appears to have been reached on the use of profits deriving from frozen Russian assets: the Americans say so and the French say so. In a briefing with journalists, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby assured that at the summit “there will be some announcement” on the possibility of using that money to continue arming Ukraine and also for reconstruction , “I think there will be unanimity.”
And Elysée sources say: “There is an agreement and this is very significant.” But the technical details remain to be defined and work continues on this: the issue remains that of how to guarantee the 50 billion dollar loan that the United States would issue and for which they would have to use the profits from the assets frozen at the Belgian company Euroclear .
Not only that: Kirby anticipated that “this week we will also announce new sanctions” against Russia and “high-impact export control actions”. Also in the crosshairs is China and the supply of dual technology that Moscow uses in the war against Kiev, according to the draft statement circulated in the last few hours. And the Chinese ‘dossier’ will also be on the table for the issue of the so-called ‘overcapacity’ of the industry, the accusations of market distortion and unfair competition, which Beijing disputes, as it does today, after the EU decided to imposition of duties against its electric cars.
Sources: Biden and Zelensky will sign security agreement on the sidelines of the summit
US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Zelensky will sign a bilateral security agreement on the sidelines of the G7, several sources told CNN, according to which the pact should set the path for a long-term security relationship between Washington and Kiev, which however, it could be canceled by future administrations. The agreement comes at the end of months of negotiations between the United States and Ukraine and should commit Washington to the training of Kiev’s armed forces, to greater cooperation in the production of weapons and military equipment, to the provision of military assistance and to greater sharing intelligence for a period of ten years.
According to the sources cited by the broadcaster, it would be an “executive agreement”, therefore something less formal than a treaty and not necessarily binding for future administrations. The text, which does not contain indications of figures, will be signed during the bilateral meeting that Biden and Zelensky will have tomorrow afternoon.
Pope Francis was also present
Another theme that the Prime Minister wanted to strongly include on the agenda is that of Artificial Intelligence, a session in which the Pope will speak, expected in Puglia on Friday, the first Pontiff to participate in a summit in the history of the G7. The Presidency’s objective is to propose a balanced and human-centred approach, keeping a high focus on the impact of AI on employment.
Premier Meloni already in Borgo Egnazia
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has already been in ‘retreat’ since Tuesday in Borgo Egnazia, to enjoy some relaxation with her daughter Ginevra after intense days, but above all where she is intent on dedicating herself to studying the dossiers on the summit table. A meeting, where the Prime Minister arrives on the strength of an electoral result that saw her excel among European governments. A good card to play already in the good retreat of Puglia, where the prime minister – potential ‘queenmaker’ on the European negotiating table, officially starting from the informal dinner on 17 June in Brussels – will see Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron, who came out with the ‘broken bones’ from the polls, but also the spitzenkandidat Ursula Von der Leyen, who could instead end up being strengthened by the European vote.
On the table of Meloni and the Sherpas – among them the summit coordinator Elisabetta Belloni – the final document of the summit, about 30 pages to be defined and polished, with various ‘XXX’, open spaces to be written after having closed an agreement with the other leaders . Among the issues to be resolved and on which the spotlight is most focused is the possible agreement on the issue of frozen Russian assets. The Americans have proposed a 50 billion loan, which should be guaranteed with the proceeds of Russian funds frozen at Euroclear, the Belgian company that holds most of the immobilized assets: the issue now is to find a mechanism to tie the commitments made at the of G7 with those at EU level, also taking into account a series of technical issues, such as doubts about the possibility of guaranteeing a loan with six months’ frozen assets in six months on the basis of a European Council decision. The hope is that through “diplomatic bureaucracy” we will be able to find the right solution, an objective that the Prime Minister hopes to achieve and which would guarantee her a complete success of the summit.
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