Civil society organizations from all over the world have called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), as host of the G-7 summit in Elmau at the end of June, not to lose sight of the interests of the Global South. Participants at a summit meeting of the organizations handed Scholz a catalog of demands for humanitarian aid, health care, climate and financial policy on Thursday. “Russia’s war of aggression is not only a humanitarian catastrophe for Ukraine. It is also worsening the already inadequate food situation in many countries,” said Mathias Mogge, chairman of the Association for Development Policy and Humanitarian Aid (Venro).
The G7 are expected to address the structural causes of hunger and make more money available. “Otherwise, not even the goal set by the G7 in 2015 of ending 500 million people from hunger by 2030 will be achieved,” said Mogge.
The organizations called on the G7, the union of the economically strongest Western democracies, to improve the financial situation of poor countries. A “clear signal” must go out from the G-7 summit that private creditors would also be obliged to make concessions to debtor states in need. The countries most in need must also be helped to meet their most pressing financial needs. The health systems affected by the corona pandemic must be strengthened worldwide. The funds for this would have to be increased significantly.
What is needed is a “controlled deglobalization”
500 representatives from 40 countries took part in the summit of “Civil Society 7” (C 7). The global economic order is not sustainable, criticized Dereje Alemayehu from the C-7 steering committee. What is needed is a “controlled deglobalization”. Unchecked growth is destroying “directly and indirectly the livelihoods of billions of people,” warned Maritta Strasser from the Environment and Development Forum. In addition, “it could not go well in the long run if the G 7 withdraw behind block borders”.
The federal government wants to use the G-7 summit to discuss the economic consequences of the Ukraine war and to emphasize the solidarity of the democracies. Chancellor Scholz has invited India, Indonesia, South Africa and Senegal as guest countries. The federal government does not think much of ideas of deglobalization, Chancellor Scholz emphasized on Wednesday at the end of the cabinet meeting in Meseberg. “That’s not our concept. Germany’s economy is firmly linked to almost every country in the world. It will continue to be one of our great advantages that we have products that depend on supplies from all over the world and we have products all over the world and export services,” he said.