D.Germany has assumed the chairmanship of the G7 group of leading democratic economic powers for one year. The highlight will be a summit meeting led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) from June 26th to 28th, 2022 at Elmau Castle in the Bavarian Alps.
The thematic focus will be on climate protection, fighting pandemics and strengthening international cooperation and democracies worldwide. “We will use our presidency so that this group of states becomes a pioneer. As a pioneer for climate-neutral business and a fair world, ”said Chancellor Scholz in his New Year’s address. “International cooperation is important. In a world that will soon have ten billion inhabitants, our voices will only be heard if we perform in a choir with many others. “
Established in 1975
Germany takes over the presidency from Great Britain. The “Group of Seven” also includes the USA, France, Italy, Japan and Canada. The group of western industrial nations was founded in 1975 by the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and the French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing during a global economic crisis, initially as the G6, which then became the G7 with Canada a year later. Russia was admitted in 1998, but excluded again in 2014 due to the seizure of the Ukrainian Crimea.
A return of Russia to the group is not in sight. The G7 is now trying to distinguish itself as a group of states that defends Western values in system competition with countries like China and Russia.
Uphold common values
Great Britain therefore invited countries such as India, South Korea, South Africa and Australia to the 2021 summit. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) announced in a dpa interview that she wanted to have countries present at the two planned meetings of foreign ministers “which stand for economic development along common values such as freedom and the rule of law”. At one meeting it could be African countries, at the other it could be countries from the Pacific region. “Act before it’s too late,” Baerbock wants to make one of the main messages of the G7 year.
The exact program is to be presented at a later date, but the summit location was announced shortly after the new government took office: As in 2015, it will be Schloss Elmau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Chancellor Scholz will then host such an important international meeting for the first time. But he has already gained summit experience – not only positive ones. At the last major summit under the German presidency, the G20 meeting in Hamburg in 2017, he was the first mayor of the Hanseatic city to be responsible for preparing the summit and for security. The meeting was overshadowed by massive riots with considerable damage in downtown Hamburg.
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