Ukraine briefly slips out of the spotlight as the G7 turns its attention to challenges such as China and AI. The summit gives Zelenskyj a boost to present his vision of peace in Switzerland.
Within a week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has received a lot of international support and billions in aid for his fight against Russia. After the Berlin reconstruction conference and the G7 summit in Italy, Ukraine can campaign for a peace according to its ideas in Switzerland this weekend.
Heads of state and government as well as high-ranking representatives from around 90 countries are expected to meet in a luxury hotel near Lucerne. Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be representing Germany – directly from Italy, where the summit of the seven leading democratic industrial nations officially ends on Saturday.
Putin threatens angrily
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened the G7 with consequences. The heads of state and government of the USA, Canada, Japan, France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy had decided that interest income from frozen Russian assets should pay off a loan of 50 billion US dollars (47 billion euros). The money should be available at the end of the year and can be used for weapons purchases, reconstruction and the budget.
Putin sharply criticized the plan. The Western states are currently trying to find a legal basis for their decision, he said on Friday in Moscow. “But regardless of all the tricks: robbery is definitely still robbery,” said Putin. The G7’s decision “will not go unpunished.”
Peace conference – without Russia and China
Russia will not be at the table when the international conference in Switzerland discusses the first building blocks of a peace process for the war in Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris will be attending from the USA. China and other countries that are close to the aggressor Russia will stay away from the meeting.
The delegations want to debate issues such as grain exports from Ukraine, the security of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and humanitarian issues such as prisoner exchange. The initiative came from Ukraine, whose President Volodymyr Zelensky will be attending. He arrived in Switzerland on Friday.
The hosts hope that a follow-up conference will be decided this year – and that Russia will also take part. No quick successes on the way to an end to the war are expected.
The Pope makes a debut and talks about AI
At the summit in Italy, the G7 states demonstrated unity against Putin and their intention to continue to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russia. The war dominated the first day of the summit, but on Friday other topics such as the difficult relations with China and economic security and migration came into focus. A historic visitor also landed at the luxury resort “Borgo Egnazia” on the southern Italian Adriatic coast: Pope Francis was the first pope in almost 50 years of G7 history to attend a meeting of the group.
The head of the church of more than 1.3 billion Catholics warned heads of state and government of the G7 group of states and other countries to be cautious in their use of artificial intelligence (AI). Francis said that on the one hand, AI inspires enthusiasm because of its possibilities, but on the other hand, it inspires fear because of its dangers. “It is up to everyone to use it sensibly,” said the Pope. “And it is up to politicians to create the conditions that make such positive use possible and fruitful.”
Controversial issue of abortion
The summit declaration was also officially adopted today. Host Giorgia Meloni had already announced yesterday that an agreement had been reached. However, it was the Italian head of government who prevented the group from renewing a clear commitment to the right to abortion in its declaration. Now it is only emphasized that women have the right to appropriate health services. The G7 express the general intention of promoting “sexual and reproductive health and rights” (SRHR). Reproductive rights are understood to mean, for example, that women can decide for themselves when they want to have children. The word abortion does not appear explicitly.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his regret. His country had recently included the right to abortion and the freedom to control one’s own body in the constitution.
Sharper tone towards China
The G7 states addressed China more harshly – on the one hand as a friend of Russia, and on the other as a difficult economic partner of the West. China must stop supplying Russia with goods that can also be used for military purposes, was one demand. Support for the Russian defense industry enables Moscow to continue its illegal war in Ukraine, and thus has significant and far-reaching security policy consequences.
The G7 also accuses China of creating overcapacity and distorting competition through anti-competitive practices such as subsidies. This endangers the economic resilience of the G7 countries, including jobs. China is also indirectly threatened with further punitive tariffs.
“Happy Birthday” Chancellor
For Chancellor Scholz, the difficult week following the European election results for his SPD took a conciliatory turn. His G7 colleagues celebrated his 66th birthday. Some of them sang “Happy Birthday”.