Article — the G7 is the VIP club of states, and its achievements fall far short of its means

26 August 2019

The Group of Seven (G7) is an international bloc comprising the world's largest economies: America, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, and Canada. It was founded in 1975 as an international framework for consultation on the world's issues. The oil crisis from which the West suffered severely with the October 1973 war was the principal cause of forming this group; six states — France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States — took part in founding it. It became the Group of Eight in 1998 with Russia's accession, whose membership was frozen in 2014 in the wake of its annexation of Crimea. The group still opposes Russia's return; only the American president Trump strives hard to bring Russia back into the group.

The current meeting is the group's 45th, held in France and chaired by the French president Macron. Several emerging economies such as India, Brazil, and Egypt were invited to take part in some of the summit's sessions — a recognition by the great powers of the importance of coordinating with the emerging economies, all of them outside Europe and America, as some emerging economies are expected to overtake the traditional large economies.

The Iranian file topped this summit's agenda. The Trump administration washed its hands, without consulting its allies, of the agreement with Iran on the nuclear file — which Europe objected to. This American disengagement from the agreement with Iran is one of the most important disagreements between Europe and the American administration.

Because of the gravity of the American position and Europe's rejection of it, France worked quietly for months, in coordination with other states such as Germany, to present an initiative to ease the tension between America and Iran and restore respect to the agreement Europe had worked fundamentally to reach. The Iranian side, seeking to avoid further American and international sanctions, appreciated and welcomed the French role and efforts.

In a manner that seemed surprising to some participants, the summit hosted the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, and a meeting was held with the French president and other Western states without the American side's participation. It appears the French/European mediation between Iran and America carries indications of success in easing the tension — which had turned into limited clashes in the Gulf's waters a few weeks earlier.

The fires in Brazil's Amazon forests, which form the lungs of the globe, likewise commanded intense attention — with the Brazilian president refusing international assistance to extinguish the fires threatening the earth's safety. Yet the G7 summit succeeded in pressing the Brazilian president to accept the international assistance, which in his view was nothing but an intervention bearing the marks of Western colonialism.

The Group of Seven faces much criticism for its failure to confront many of the world's challenges in the fields of the environment, the inequality between North and South, climate change, and the other challenges facing the world.

Only fools kill one another.

Despite the depth of the disagreements, the clash of interests, and each state's pursuit of the best it can for its people, the language of dialogue, the creation of mutual interests, and the search for common ground are the civilised world's means of facing disputes and differences.