G7 summit in Elmau: All information about the meeting at a glance
Created: 05/09/2022, 10:19 am
By: Verena Moeckl
The G7 Summit 2022 at Schloss Elmau: An overview of the participants, the location, the most important information and the effects on the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region.
Elmau - Also in 2022 the G7 summit will take place in Elmau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The heads of state and government of the seven most important industrialized countries will meet there from June 26th to 28th.
At the summit, they exchange and coordinate their positions on global and political issues.
Meeting: | G7 summit |
Venue: | Elmau Castle above the municipality of Krün |
Date: | June 26-28, 2022 |
Participant: | Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, USA, England |
Here you can find out what the meeting is all about, why a 2000-inhabitant community in the Isar valley was chosen as the venue again and what that means for the Bavarian town.
We also inform you about all important events of the G7 summit in 2015.
G7 summit 2022 at Schloss Elmau: who belongs to the G7 - and who organizes the meeting?
The G7 is the Group of Seven.
It is an informal forum of the seven most important industrialized countries and democracies that sees itself as a community of values.
Even if the decisions of the seven economic powerhouses are not legally binding, they do have an impact on world affairs given the economic and political weight of the summit participants.
Three facts about the G7
The then French President Giscard d'Estaing and the then German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt invited to the first summit meeting in 1975 (then still the Group of Six).
The European Union has also been represented at all meetings since 1977.
Between 1998 and 2014, Russia was added to the group and the G7 expanded to become the G8.
In response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, the G7 decided to suspend Russia's participation until further notice.
The Group of Seven
Germany (Chancellor Olaf Scholz)
France (President Emmanuel Macron)
Italy (Prime Minister Mario Draghi)
United Kingdom (Prime Minister Boris Johnson)
Japan (Prime Minister Fumio Kishida)
Canada (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau)
United States (President Joe Biden)
The summit meeting is organized once a year by one of the seven members.
This country takes over the presidency in the respective year.
It invites the G7 countries and takes care of the agenda of the summit.
We will use our G7 presidency to ensure that this group of states becomes a pioneer.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Germany's G7 Presidency this year
As the federal government informs on its website, the G7 summit is not an international organization.
Therefore, there is also no administrative apparatus, which is why the decisive role in organizing and leading the summit falls to the respective country, which holds the presidency, the so-called presidency.
Last year 2021 it was Great Britain, next year 2023 it will be Japan.
This year, after seven years, it is Germany's turn to take over the presidency.
“We will use our G7 presidency to ensure that this group of states becomes a pioneer.
As a pioneer for climate-neutral business and a just world,” said the new Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on his debut.
The world as a guest in Elmau: the heads of state and government at the G7 summit in 2015. © dpa
Under the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), Germany last hosted the G7 summit in 2015.
At that time, too, the meeting took place at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.
What's the deal with the place?
G7 Summit 2022 in Elmau: why exactly there?
All information about the conference venue in the luxury castle
Schloss Elmau is a luxury hotel.
It is 100 kilometers south of Munich and is located in the village of the same name, Elmau, above the municipality of Krün in the Upper Bavarian district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
It lies between the Karwendel Mountains and the Zugspitze in the Wetterstein Mountains at an altitude of 1000 meters.
But why here?
In June 2022, the G7 summit will take place again at Schloss Elmau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
© Federal Government / G7 Final Report 2015
Schloss Elmau meets "all the logistical and security requirements of a G7 summit location," declared the new government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin.
The atmosphere seems to be part of that.
"With its scenic backdrop, Schloss Elmau already offered an attractive setting for talks and meetings between the heads of state and government," says the federal government's website.
The hotel has left "a lasting impression worldwide" and also guarantees that everything runs smoothly.
The security measures are currently being planned.
G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau 2015: The most important events of the meeting
The G7 summit took place there for the first time on June 7-8, 2015.
The heads of state and government at that time were: Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany), President Barack Obama (USA), Prime Minister David Cameron (Great Britain), President François Hollande (France), Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (Italy), Prime Minister Shinzō Abe (Japan) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Canada).
What did Merkel say to Barack Obama at that moment?
The whole world pondered that.
The famous photo was taken at the G7 summit in 2015 at Schloss Elmau.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa POOL/dpa/Archive
The following topics were on the agenda:
Fight against terrorist militia ISIS
conflict in Ukraine
nuclear negotiations with Iran
Marine environmental protection, marine governance and resource efficiency in the field of environment
Antimicrobial resistance, neglected and poverty-related diseases and Ebola in health
Standards in trade and supply chains
The empowerment of women in self-employment and vocational training
security of energy supply
G7 summit 2022 in Elmau: What does the meeting mean for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region?
The G7 summit has a major impact on Krün, because the inconspicuous little town becomes a stage for the most powerful politicians in the world for about 24 hours.
"I'm looking forward to our community being chosen as the venue," says Krün's Mayor Thomas Schwarzenberger (CSU).
Then: After the summit, Thomas Schwarzenberger holds the golden book signed by Barack Obama and Angela Merkel for the camera.
© Thomas Very
Despite the experience already gained from the summit seven years ago, the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is facing a major challenge.
The preparation time is significantly shorter this time – only around six months and not one and a half years as in the run-up to the 2015 summit.
At that time, numerous safety precautions had to be taken.
For example, the Pentecost holidays were extended by two days especially for the summit, since the Krün school building had been converted into a kind of medical situation center and the pupils could not be taught there at the regular start of school.
Numerous construction and infrastructure projects were also implemented early.
Effects of the G7 summit on the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The following investments were made in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district during the 2015 G7 summit:
Kranzbach Bridge (350,000 euros)
Klais-Elmau toll road (1.5 million euros)
Mittenwald-Ferchenseehöhe connecting road (1.65 million euros)
Helipad (400,000 euros)
Pömetsried Airport (300,000 euros)
Redesign of the Elmauer hiking car park into a temporary mini-airport (1.04 million euros)
Repair of the road network (1.13 million euros)
Reconstruction of the border checkpoints (220,000 euros)
When was the G7 summit?
The winners of the political meeting in Elmau
So did the summit benefit the Upper Bavarian district?
Opinions differ on this.
“The G7 summit was expensive, but it also enabled significant investments in local infrastructure, whether rail, sewer or road.
This must be noted alongside the image gain that the summit brought thanks to the likeable hosts from Werdenfelser Land,” said Florian Streibl, member of the Landtag of the Free Voters from Oberammergau.
The heads of state and government were guests in Elmau at the G7 summit in 2015.
© VISTAPRESS/Imago Images
In any case, the balance for the tourism industry is positive.
The international press center and the court-enforced G7 protest camp were located in the tourist office in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
For the hotel industry, this meant bomb business: almost all the beds were occupied by thousands of government officials, police officers and journalists.
The summit was a complete success, especially for the Schlosshotel Elmau.
In addition to tourism, another branch of the economy also benefited from the G7 summit: insurance.
Many homeowners had secured themselves against civil unrest due to the expected protests.
The losers of the G7 summit in Elmau: Nesting birds disturbed by helicopter noise
Things were not looking so good for other sectors of the economy.
“Experiences from Heiligendamm have shown that the retail sector tends to have to reckon with problematic days.
The region is populated with journalists and politicians who have to work, but who hardly have time to stroll through the pedestrian zone," predicted the economics officer at the time, Claus Gefrörer (CSU).
The summit also had an impact on the environment.
"In the nursery of nature, gross mischief was done," remembers the Garmisch district chairman of the Federal Nature Conservation (BN) Axel Doering.
In the middle of the breeding season, many animals were disturbed by the kilometer-long fence around Schloss Elmau and brooding eagles were startled by the constant noise from helicopters.
But the citizens of the district also felt the consequences of the summit.
Banks and shops had to close.
"In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, public life almost collapsed in the days surrounding the G7 summit," said environmentalist Doering.
Ten figures for the 2015 G7 summit
For security purposes, the police sealed 3,600 manhole covers
for the 2015 G7 summit at Schloss Elmau along the official protocol route of the heads of state and government from the airport in Erdinger Moos to Elmau.
50 criminal defense lawyers
hold the fort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bayernhalle, otherwise home of the Trachtler - they stand by the rioters who are arrested, legally aside.
110 judges and almost 20 prosecutors
are deployed on site.
Working in shifts (one lasts 12 hours), they decide on arrests and custody.
200 summit opponents
have space at the same time in the prisoner assembly point in the Abrams complex.
In 2014, 80 police officers
prepared the 2015 G7 summit in a specially created office in Munich.
Around 5000 journalists
have set up their jobs in the ice sports center
Over 20,000 police officers
were deployed.
All the cables installed in the media center for electricity, media technology, air conditioning and telecommunications were
180 kilometers long .
50 police horses
were on site.
You can read more facts and figures about the 2015 G7 summit in Elmau here.
The numbers speak for themselves.
But why do we need all the safety precautions?
The G7 summit does not only meet supporters.
Numerous opponents of the two-day meeting also made public appearances in the run-up to the event and during the summit to demonstrate against the Powerful Seven.
Who are these people and what do they want?
Protest actions in Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen: Who are the G7 opponents?
Thousands protest against G7 summit
View photo gallery
The action alliance "Stop G7 Elmau" plays a major role.
These include more than 50 groups, from the AG Bäuerliche Landwirtschaft to Verdi and the 3A Alliance, which sees itself as radical left.
What unites them all is criticism of the TTIP free trade agreement, of the exploitation of nature and of social deforestation.
They are firmly against war and a surveillance state and for solidarity with refugees.
More details about the summit opponents can be found here.
"It's about resistance," says the then spokesman for the action alliance.
The then 29-year-old belongs to the hard core of the approximately 25-strong protest movement.
According to him, rebellion should not be lost in our society.
That is why the alliance has been organizing demonstrations, actions and a counter-summit in the run-up to the 2015 G7 summit for months.
The counter-event took place in the state capital.
There the G7 opponents had erected a three meter high cardboard summit on Munich's Marienplatz.
You can read detailed information on the G7 demonstrations of the time in our overview.
G7 summit in Elmau 2015: Thousands of demonstrators meet the police
There were also numerous actions on the summit days themselves.
On the Saturday of the summit, several thousand opponents of the summit marched through Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a protest march.
The police counted 3,600 demonstrators, the action alliance "Stop G7 Elmau" spoke of 7,500.
Contrary to expectations, the protests remained peaceful for hours, until a violent confrontation between demonstrators and police officers suddenly broke out on the fringes of the protest procession.
Eight security forces and several summit opponents were injured.
The protests did not abate on the summit Sunday either.
The demonstrators repeatedly blocked federal highway 2 in the direction of Mittenwald, the access route for the delegations in the direction of Elmau.
The riots that were feared on Sunday evening did not materialize.
Krün's Mayor Thomas Schwarzenberger fears that the situation could get tense this year.
He assumes that the fight of the G7 opponents will possibly be fought on the streets of the district.
Schwarzenberger expects more counter-demonstrations because there are new topics such as Corona and climate protection.
Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) is also assuming a new threat to the summit in June.
"This time we are in a situation where right-wing extremists could also demonstrate alongside left-wing extremists." So far, the G7 and the G20 summit in Hamburg have only been left-wing extremism.
That could change this time.
The expenses for police and security measures are correspondingly high.
What amount are we talking about here?
G7 summit 2022 in Elmau: How expensive will the meeting be?
The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior calculates costs of more than 166 million euros for the renewed organization of the meeting.
This was announced by the news agency dpa in December last year.
In the new calculation, around 147 million euros are earmarked for the police.
At around 52 million euros, the largest item is leases and rents for land, rooms, equipment and machines.
For the use of non-Bavarian police forces, the Free State has to reimburse the federal government and other federal states with 30 million euros.
The purchase of security equipment also costs 30 million euros.
These include security fences and five so-called SatCom systems for satellite-supported communication systems.
A police car drives in front of the panorama of the mountains.
The Bavarian Interior Ministry calculates costs of more than 160 million euros for the renewed organization of the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria in June 2022.
© picture alliance / dpa
Other cost items are the rescue service as well as fire and disaster control for more than eleven million euros.
386,000 euros are due for the use of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
It is still unclear what part of this the federal government will take on.
The second summit meeting in Elmau will probably be more expensive than the premiere seven years ago.
At the first meeting in Elmau, the Free State considered 130 million euros.
According to
focus.de
, however, the taxpayers' association came up with a different sum.
According to his calculation, the summit finally cost almost 360 million euros.
G7 Summit: Achievements - This is what the Group of Seven has achieved so far
In recent years, the G7 countries have pushed, among other things, the stabilization of the financial markets, the reform of international corporate taxation (especially for large digital corporations), the containment of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as the strengthening of women's rights and the fight against climate change.
The group of seven is currently involved in overcoming the corona pandemic - among other things by distributing vaccine doses to developing countries and promoting global vaccine production.
G7 summit: Why are the industrialized countries meeting?
The most important topics for 2022 at a glance
The Federal Republic would like to use its G7 presidency to set “its own substantive accents” and to find “new models of cooperation to deal with global challenges”, according to a letter from the federal government about its G7 presidency.
In the letter, the federal government also states that it wants to further strengthen the global common good.
“Progress for a just world” is the goal that Germany has set itself for its presidency.
Below is a list of the five political priorities of the German G7 agenda:
Sustainable planet
: It is about a pioneering role in environmental protection, the energy transition and climate protection.
An international climate club is to be founded for the latter.
Economic stability and transformation
: The aim is a sustainable, social and just global economic system as well as economic recovery and financial security.
A healthy life:
The international health system should be improved.
Global health is to be strengthened by fighting and preparing for pandemics.
Investing in a better future
: This is to be achieved by promoting sustainable developments and infrastructure and expanding partnerships on climate, energy and development.
It is also about working for peace and security.
Strong togetherness:
The focus is on working for open, free and just societies and democracies
Reporting on Merkur.de/Bayern on the G7 summit in Elmau 2022
Until then, you are welcome to find out more about the G7 summit at Merkur.de/bayern and on our G7 Elmau topic page.
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