The eloquent absences of Davos: only Germany sends its leader among the ten main economic powers in the world

The World Economic Forum is an extraordinary congregation of wealth, power, knowledge and intelligence.

It has been so for decades and it continues to be so, with an edition like this year in which, in the Swiss alpine resort of Davos, fifty heads of state and government, some twenty central bankers, more than 100 finance, trade and foreign ministers, half a thousand top executives from many of the world's largest companies and also prominent figures from the media, science or social research.

However, this year it is difficult not to notice considerable absences from the leaders of the world's greatest powers.

A mixture of internal problems in a national key and a certain political toxicity of this elite event that represents the highest banner of an increasingly questioned globalization, is the most likely cause of these absences.

The list is remarkable.

This year's Davos edition does not feature the president of the first world power, Joe Biden, nor the second, Xi Jinping, the latter affected by the very serious turbulence that is shaking his country, with popular protests that have forced the regime to give unprecedented rudder changes under popular pressure, such as the turn in the policy of pandemic restrictions or in the attitude of transparency in the figures related to it.

The president of France ―Emmanuel Macron, who is dealing with a problematic pension reform― and the new prime minister of the United Kingdom ―Rishi Sunak, who is facing a serious wave of social protests and strikes― have not traveled to Davos either.

At any other time, a new leader of the British Executive would have taken advantage of the Swiss appointment to present himself to the world elites.

Justin Trudeau, leader of the Government of Canada, has also skipped the appointment.

The three embody a group of politicians who are deeply in tune with what Davos stands for.

And yet they did not come.

Less surprising is the absence of the President of the Italian Government, Giorgia Meloni, the standard-bearer of a nationalist and protectionist right that is precisely promoting an attack against globalization.

The leaders of the other two great Asian powers: Japan and India have not traveled to Davos.

In the latter case, the absence of Narendra Modi is compensated by the enthusiastic participation in the Forum of various actors from his country, which is the one with the greatest prominence in the venues installed on the Promenade of the alpine village with at least four

. .

The table of the first 10 economic powers is completed by Russia, which is not welcome, and Germany, whose leader, Olaf Scholz, is the only one of the lot of greats who has decided to attend, except for last-minute surprises for which he appears unexpectedly any of the others.

Undoubtedly, internal problems are a central cause of many of these absences.

But there are elements to believe that, in a world in which discontent is growing due to the harmful side effects of globalization, the photo of the Davos elite is less and less appealing to many politicians.

Inequality, precariousness and the destruction of jobs in Western countries have taken their toll, and today the key verb in politics seems to be to protect, more than any other.

It is conjugated in different ways, from the right to the left, but almost everyone is in it.

Davos does not seem the most appropriate place to highlight this effort, although the concentration of intelligence and power that occurs here is an effective combination to promote ideas and actions.

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