Hoekstra at G20 in conversation with other ministers about ‘task force’ next health crisis
The G20 summit of heads of state and government starts today in Rome, but Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra (CDA) already had a meeting with his colleagues from Finance and Health in the Italian capital on Friday. Plans were discussed for a new coordination mechanism in the event of a next health crisis such as the corona pandemic. “Italy has strongly pushed for the creation of a task force for finance and health ministers, who should meet much more often to better coordinate a new health crisis.” This should consist of employees of the ministries, who, after consultation, brief their specialist ministers.
“It is always easy to talk in retrospect, but countries in Asia that had already had a SARS outbreak quickly fell back on their script, the scenario they already knew,” Hoekstra said in a conversation with a number of Dutch media, including NRC. “The corona crisis has mainly happened to many other countries in the West.” The task force must prevent repetition. In Rome, the ministers also expressed their intention to help countries in the South with access to vaccines.
Hoekstra also discussed the Italian corona recovery plans in the press interview. During the corona crisis, Italy and the Netherlands clashed sharply, after the persistent attitude of Hoekstra, among others, about European financial support to the country. “That is already a year and a half behind us,” the minister puts into perspective, “and even then the personal contacts have always remained very good.” He is convinced that insisting on strict reforms as a precondition for financial support was the right approach. “The Italian recovery plan is very much in line with the recommendations formulated by the European Commission specifically for Italy. The plan contains a good balance of reforms, investments and innovations. Draghi’s presence brings confidence. His government is doing a great job in terms of stability and the economy.”
The G20 summit in Rome, which concludes on Sunday, is the final preparation for the climate summit in Glasgow. Making agreements about the climate is “a life-size task” according to Hoekstra, who feels that in recent years the sense of urgency has increased everywhere, including outside Europe. He hopes that the consultations in Rome this weekend will yield some results, so that new steps can be taken in Glasgow afterwards. But he is not optimistic. “Views in the world vary widely,” he notes. “Some probably won’t come to the top, others will ask if they come with an empty suitcase. Not all messages are hopeful.”
By Ine Roox, correspondent in Rome.
World leaders discuss climate at G20 ahead of climate summit in Glasgow
For the countries attending the G20 weekend summit in Rome on Saturday and Sunday, one of the key topics is climate. The meeting is therefore an advance to the UN climate conference in Glasgow, the COP26, which starts on Sunday. Most leaders of the nineteen countries present, in addition to the European Union, immediately travel on.
By the end of the summit in Rome, there should already be more clarity about how the leaders will position themselves during the COP26. The G20 will be attended by the leaders of the 20 major economies. Together they are responsible for about 80 percent of the world’s gross national product. Will they decide to support poorer countries in the climate transition?
Also read about what will be discussed at the G20 summit: G20 on climate and corona, but only works if international cooperation improves
Climate summit participants left for Glasgow by train
A large group of participants in the UN climate summit COP26, which starts on Sunday in Glasgow, left for Scotland on a ‘climate train’ on Saturday morning. Which reports ProRail. On board are delegates from 28 European countries. The train goes via Rotterdam, Brussels and London to Glasgow.
“We want to get people to the climate summit by train in a sustainable way,” Mara de Pater, chair of the Youth for Sustainable Travel organization, told Radio 1. “So that they don’t go by plane.” The train journey is also intended to allow travelers to talk to each other about sustainable transport before the climate summit starts.
Delegations from the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany are on the train, together with MEPs and representatives of NGOs such as Oxfam, among others. Two years ago, a group of European climate activists, including De Pater, sailed with a ship to Chile, where the climate summit was to take place. It eventually did not go through, and was held in Madrid.
Welcome to this blog
Will there be international agreements to combat global warming and keep it below 1.5 degrees? This weekend, world leaders will gather at a G20 summit in Rome and a climate summit in Glasgow, which begins on Sunday. Climate activists have already made their voices heard loudly in the run-up to this.
In this blog follows the NRC-editing the news developments about both meetings.
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