Newsticker: G7 in Germany

23.06.2022: US wants to increase pressure on Russia at G7 summit in Germany

Washington (dpa) - According to the White House, the US wants to increase pressure on Russia over the war of aggression against Ukraine at the G7 summit in Bavaria. A senior US government official said on Wednesday that the US would make “a number of concrete proposals” to this end at the meeting, which begins this Sunday. This would also be intended to demonstrate the joint support for Ukraine. Among other issues, the consequences of the war on price increases and on energy and food security worldwide will be on the agenda. The G7 will also “advance a vision of the world grounded in freedom and openness – not coercion, not aggression, not spheres of influence”, the government official continued.

Further information about Germany’s G7 presidency can be found here.

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22.06.2022: Marathon summit to be dominated by the war

Berlin/Brussels (dpa) - It will be a marathon summit, the likes of which have rarely been seen before. It starts next Thursday in Brussels with the European Union heads of state and government, will then be continued in the Bavarian Alps by the G7 group of leading democratic economies, and will finally conclude after eight days in the Spanish capital Madrid, where Nato plans to reposition itself. Almost 50 countries from all the world’s continents will be involved, though only three leaders will make the entire journey from start to finish: French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Only their countries are members of both the EU and Nato, as well as of the G7.

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21.06.2022: Scholz to meet Biden on sidelines of G7 summit

Berlin (dpa) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to hold bilateral talks with all eleven participating heads of state and government – including US President Joe Biden – on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. A good six months after taking office, Scholz will be hosting his first major international meeting at the castle near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which has been converted into a luxury hotel. The summit will take place from 26 to 28 June and is embedded into the meetings of the European Union (23/24 June) and Nato (28-30 June). In addition to Germany and the USA, the G7 encompasses the following five countries: France, the UK, Italy, Canada and Japan. Scholz has also invited five guest countries: India, Indonesia, South Africa, Senegal and Argentina. His aim in doing so is to strengthen the cohesion of democracies worldwide.

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20.06.2022: DIHK: Make G7 meeting the starting point for climate club

Berlin (dpa) - The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) has called for the upcoming G7 meeting to set the course for greater international cooperation on climate protection. “Cooperation on climate policy in a climate club could help ensure that climate costs for companies are largely harmonised between the participating economic areas,” DIHK President Peter Adrian told the German Press Agency. The group of G7 countries could serve as the starting point for an alliance of countries making comparable efforts in the area of climate protection. “The common goal should be to make an ambitious climate club a core element of a successful global climate policy,” Adrian said. “We need international alliances in climate protection. Otherwise we will not be able to make any sustainable progress here. The result could be that production sites are relocated to the detriment of both climate protection and the European economy.”

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19.06.2022: Scholz wants to strengthen cohesion of democracies

Berlin (dpa) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to make strengthening cooperation between democracies worldwide a focus of the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. “It would be a particular success if the summit could serve as the starting point for a new view of the world of democracy,” Scholz said in an interview with the German Press Agency. He said it was short-sighted to see democracy as being merely the system in the conventional West, i.e. the G7 states. In addition to Germany, this group includes the USA, Canada, France, the UK, Italy and Japan. “The major, powerful democracies of the future are in Asia, Africa and the American South and will be our partners,” said Scholz, who is hosting the G7 summit from 26 to 28 June.

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17.06.2022: Zelenskiy to attend G7 summit via video link

Berlin (dpa) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria at the end of June via video link, according to a German government spokeswoman in Berlin on Friday. The G7 summit of the leading Western industrialised nations will take place from 26 to 28 June. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had invited Zelenskiy to attend the summit virtually on 27 June, the spokeswoman said. 

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16.06.2022: Zelenskiy to attend G7 and Nato summits

Kyiv (dpa) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will represent the interests of his war-torn country at the G7 and Nato summits at the end of June. As Zelenskiy announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening, he had gratefully accepted the invitations to the top-level meetings. It was initially unclear whether the Ukrainian leader would be leaving his country for the summits or whether he would take part via a video link, as he has done at other meetings. Zelenskiy said in his evening video address that he saw great progress overall in terms of international support for his country.

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15.06.2022: German government planning conference to address hunger crisis

Berlin (dpa) - Shortly before the G7 summit, the German government is planning to host an international conference to address the looming global hunger crisis caused by Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian wheat. At the meeting, which is scheduled to take place at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on 24 June, the government is to be represented by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Development Minister Svenja Schulze and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir.

“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is confronting the world with a hunger crisis of dramatic proportions,” the invitation reads, according to a report in the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe. With a view to initiating aid and concepts to combat the impending disaster in time, ministers of the G7 countries, of the leading donor states and of the worst affected countries are to meet. The Russian navy has been blockading Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since the war of aggression against Ukraine began more than three months ago. Ukraine, the world’s fourth largest grain exporter, is therefore unable to export its own supplies.

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14.06.2022: Temporary border controls ahead of G7 summit

Berlin/Munich (dpa) - Just under two weeks before the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, temporary controls have been put in place at all of Germany’s borders with neighbouring countries. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, this is due to increased security requirements around the summit. A Federal Police spokesperson said that officials were trying to minimise the restrictions. The measures are intended to help keep the population safe and to ensure that the planned demonstrations proceed peacefully.

The heads of state and government of the G7 countries will be meeting at Schloss Elmau from 26 to 28 June. Several demonstrations involving thousands of participants are expected in the surrounding area. The G7 comprises Germany, France, the UK, Italy, the USA, Canada and Japan.

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13.06.2022: Meeting of G7 science ministers in Germany

At a summit meeting, the G7 science ministers are mainly discussing the topics of climate, health and securing the freedom of research. German Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger met with her counterparts in Frankfurt am Main on Monday. “Science and research are central to our future: without research there can be no progress and no innovations,” declared Stark-Watzinger. The G7 countries also intend to address the coronavirus pandemic. “As the G7, we are keen to support and advance international research on post-Covid,” the federal research minister stressed. The results of the consultations in Frankfurt are to be summarised in a joint final declaration.