Will there still be a G7 summit this year? US President Trump has some interest in this before the November elections. Now he suggests to invite Kremlin chief Putin. The reaction of the others: behave.
Washington / Berlin (dpa) - The annual summit of seven major industrialized nations (G7) is very much in the balance after a new turn by Donald Trump.
The weekend, the US President proposed postponing the meeting - preferably to September - and then inviting other countries like Russia. Internationally, the idea met with subdued reactions, including in Moscow. The federal government wants to wait for further explanations. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had previously made it clear that she was currently not ready to travel to a summit in Washington because of the corona crisis.
Trump justified his proposal on Saturday evening (local time) aboard his presidential plane to journalists that the format of the G7 had become out of date. He did not feel that the "very outdated group" of the seven - USA, France, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany - correctly represented what was happening in the world. He named South Korea, Australia and India as possible other participants besides Russia - but not China.
The history of the G7 goes back to 1975. After the end of the Cold War, the group of Western leaders was expanded to include Russia. However, due to the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, Moscow has not been part of the district since 2014. In addition, the summit would only take place a few weeks before the US presidential election, in which Trump is running for a second term, with a postponement to September.
The G7 countries take turns hosting each year. It is the turn of the USA this year. Trump initially wanted to meet on one of his properties in Florida. Then the meeting was scheduled for June 10-12 at the President's country estate in Camp David. In March it was canceled because of the corona pandemic. There should only be one video slot. Then Trump spoke out in favor of a real summit - as a signal that the world is recovering from the corona crisis.
However, this met with little approval from the other heads of state and government last week. Merkel thanked Trump for the invitation on Saturday, but at the same time had the statement made: "Given the overall pandemic situation, as of today she cannot promise her personal participation, that is, a trip to Washington." Currently corona-related travel restrictions apply between the United States and Europe. The US President only received public support from Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Thereupon he came up with a new proposal: a meeting in September or only after the election, with a different line-up. A spokeswoman for the White House also announced that it should also discuss how to deal with China. Trump accuses China of not preventing the spread of the corona virus. The pandemic has hit the United States particularly hard. The country now has more than 100,000 deaths. Over 40 million Americans have registered as unemployed.
Trump had already campaigned at the two most recent G7 summits to expand the group to include Russia - to no avail. Russia itself also sees a great need for clarification after the latest initiative. "At the moment we don't know any details of this proposal," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow of the Interfax agency on Monday. "There are many questions here." It is open, among other things, in what capacity Russia should be invited, what agenda there is and who is invited at all.
Trump and Putin then called on Monday evening. The US President called, the Kremlin said afterwards. Trump explained his idea and both sides had stressed the importance of a dialogue between Moscow and Washington. It remains open what Putin thinks about Trump's initiative. However, approval came from South Korean President Moon Jae In. The president's office said he was ready to accept the invitation after a telephone call to the presidents.
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Norbert Röttgen (CDU), condemned the plans as "unacceptable in form and content". "Neither the composition nor the scheduling of the meeting of the leading western industrialized countries are subject to Mr. Trump's personal inclinations or election campaign considerations," he told the German Press Agency.
The US newspaper "Politico", citing unspecified circles, reported that European heads of government are concerned that Trump wants to use the summit primarily as a photo opportunity in the election campaign - and as a message that thanks to him, the corona crisis has been overcome. So far, there have hardly been any preparations for a meeting. A government spokesman in Berlin only confirmed that there was a phone call between Trump and Merkel last week without giving details.