Scholz does not want to "torpedo" the G20

Created: 06/27/2022, 08:45

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) speaks during a press statement at the G7 summit in Elmau.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

Leading economic powers will come together at the G20 summit in November - Russia will also be there.

Is this possible in the midst of the war of aggression in Ukraine?

The Chancellor sees no problem in this for the time being.

Elmau - Despite the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out in favor of maintaining the G20, which also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"One thing is clear: the G20 must continue to play a role," said the SPD politician on Monday in the ZDF "Morgenmagazin", to which he was connected from the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau.

There is "a shared belief that we don't want to torpedo the G20," he added.

The G20 is a group of states of leading economic powers, which, in addition to the G7 states, also includes authoritarian countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.

The next summit is scheduled for November in Indonesia.

Decision shortly before departure

Scholz did not clearly answer the question of whether he would sit down at a table with Putin there.

He pointed out that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had also been invited to the summit by the Indonesian hosts and said: "In the end, we will have to make the decision shortly before departure, because the world can change very significantly by then." "

Before Scholz, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke out against a boycott of the G20 summit in autumn - even if Putin were to attend the next meeting.

"We have to think very carefully about whether we paralyze the entire G20, I'm not advocating it," von der Leyen said on Sunday evening on ZDF's "heute journal".

"In my opinion, the G20 is too important, also for the developing countries, the emerging countries, for us to let this body be destroyed again by Putin." dpa