The Group of Seven (G-7) summit is set to end without there being a joint agreement between the world’s biggest economies for the first time in its 44-year history, with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron stating that these global economies are currently suffering from “a very deep crisis of democracy.”
This comes as a clear indication of the increasing separation and disagreement between seven of the world’s largest economies, with this possibly being the first time since the meetings started being held back in 1975 that there will be no agreed statement at the end.
Speaking to the press during a news conference in Paris on Wednesday before the G-7 summit, Macron stated that it will probably be “pointless” to try to end up with a joint agreement.
One of Macron’s main talking points was the fact that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is currently refusing to back out from a climate agreement that is restricting global efforts to lower the levels of carbon emitted.
The G-7 summit will be held in the seaside town of Biarritz in southwest France, with the meetings starting on Saturday right up until Monday. The meetings will involve the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Over the last few years, establishing an agreement has become extremely difficult, most notably due to Mr Trump wanting to agree on trade pacts that would only benefit the United States and another country, rather than benefitting every member of The Group of Seven.
A notable example is last year’s G-7 summit in Ottawa, Canada, where Mr Trump made an early exit from the meeting and refused to sign the final agreement, whilst also exchanging personal insults with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Last year’s summit was summed up by a photo that was taken, showing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the world leaders being gathered around her, whilst Mr Trump was seated with his arms folded.
Agathe Demarais, a global forecasting director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told news agency CNBC that “It is impossible to predict what the U.S. will do – we might be in for some surprises from Trump.”
France and Macron will be aiming to avoid a disastrous repeat of last year’s summit, with the French media labelling the summit in Ottawa as the “G-6+1 summit”, illustrating Mr Trump’s willingness to not sign the final statement.