Baerbock: Russia's return in the G7 round is not in sight
Created: 12/30/2021, 05:15 AM
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens).
© Michael Sohn / Pool AP / dpa
Climate protection, democracy, pandemic: these are the top topics of the German G7 presidency in 2022. The guests at the summit of Western economic powers and the foreign ministers' meeting are, as always, top-class.
Berlin - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock does not consider a return of Russia to the group of leading Western economies (G7) to be foreseeable at the moment.
"It is of course very painful that Russia has excluded itself from this circle by annexing Crimea," said the Green politician to the German Press Agency in Berlin, referring to Moscow's actions on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in 2014. "At the moment it is not foreseeable when Russia will be able to return to the round - the current escalation does not make the situation any easier."
Baerbock added: "After Russia's aggressive actions in 2014, it was right to make it clear that on this basis one cannot simply continue the economic policy agenda."
The highlight is at Elmau Castle
In addition to Germany, the “Group of Seven” also includes Great Britain, France, the USA, Italy, Japan and Canada.
Germany will take over the chairmanship from Great Britain on January 1st.
The highlight will be the summit meeting at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps from June 26th to 28th.
In the meantime, the G7 formed the G8 with Russia until 2014.
Moscow was excluded because of the annexation of Crimea.
Since then, tensions between the Western states and Russia have increased, also because of the Russian approach in Ukraine.
The worsening situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border was also one of the determining topics at the meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Liverpool in December.
Baerbock emphasized that climate policy will in future be "an essential part of German foreign policy and thus also a central issue during the G7 presidency".
It shows "in a dramatic way that the escalation of the climate crisis is not only causing terrible suffering for individual people in different regions" - in Germany, for example, during the flood disaster this year.
“The climate crisis also exacerbates conflict in different regions of the world.
Every tenth of a degree less global warming is a contribution to international security. ”Baerbock had brought responsibility for international climate policy from the Ministry of the Environment to the Foreign Office.
"Act before it's too late"
According to Baerbock, one of the main messages of the German G7 presidency is: "Act before it's too late." This is the motto under which she will speak to the G7 foreign ministers and focus on the issues of forward-looking multilateralism and the resilience of democracies Baerbock.
The corona pandemic, for example, illustrates "how important it is that we enable international organizations to act with foresight".
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She wants to invite those countries as guests to the consultations in the G7 format who not only want to invest in the future, "but who stand for economic development along with common values such as freedom and the rule of law," said Baerbock.
Since Germany will organize two G7 foreign ministerial meetings, she is thinking about "inviting states from Africa to one meeting and devoting the other meeting to the Pacific region, for example".
dpa
