G7 Summit | New sanctions against Moscow and a new partnership

(Castle of Elmau) The leaders of the G7 countries set the tone for their summit, meeting in Bavaria and largely devoted to the war in Ukraine, by announcing on Sunday to extend sanctions against Moscow and by launching a call for unity. A $600 billion investment for infrastructure was also announced.

This is the first signal of support for Ukraine from this meeting, which began at midday, in the sumptuous setting of the Bavarian Alps.

“Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban Russian gold, a major export source, which will deprive Russia of billions of dollars,” tweeted US President Joe Biden.

The seven major powers (Germany, United States, France, Canada, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) will formalize their commitment at the end of the meeting on Tuesday, but Washington, London, Ottawa and Tokyo are already there and already rallied.

This embargo on newly mined gold in Russia, without targeting gold already sold, will “directly hit the Russian oligarchs and attack the heart of Putin’s war machine”, assured British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A “Global Infrastructure Partnership”

The G7 also put on track on Sunday a vast investment program for developing countries, aimed at mobilizing 600 billion dollars and supposed to respond to the huge projects financed by China, American President Joe Biden announced on Sunday.

“With G7 partners, we aim to mobilize $600 billion by 2027 for global infrastructure investment,” the White House said shortly before a speech by Mr. Biden unveiling the proposal at the Seven Summit. industrialized countries in southern Germany.

The American president assured that this program was based on “shared values” such as “transparency”, but also respect for the rights of workers, the environment, gender equality.

“We offer better options,” he said, against the backdrop of peaks in the Bavarian Alps.

Neither the US president nor the other leaders mentioned China’s name, but they made obvious allusions to it.

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen thus considered that the partner countries of the West “had the choice” – implied: that of going to the democracies rather than to Beijing – to develop their electricity networks or their medical infrastructures. .

Westerners want to distance themselves from China, which has invested massively in a number of developing countries to build infrastructure through the so-called “New Silk Roads” program, or to secure access to certain raw materials.

Beijing is accused of carrying out its projects through unprofitable, opaque loans – hence the “transparency” promised on the contrary by the G7 countries – even frankly perilous, which would aggravate the debt problems of already vulnerable countries.

The “Global Infrastructure Partnership” (Partnership for Global Infrastructure) must, according to the same source, “provide quality and sustainable infrastructure”.

The G7 “has set itself the ambition of making the world a better offer in terms of investment in infrastructure”, underlined the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, presenting the project alongside the American President.

The United States alone promises to “mobilize” some “200 billion dollars” over five years for this program.

But this verb, “to mobilize”, does not mean that the States will themselves provide these enormous sums. Washington thus arrives at a total of 200 billion dollars by combining loans, public financing – partly already existing – and private financing encouraged by the American executive.

With these big numbers still uncertain and these good intentions, can Westerners reverse the trend in the face of China? The United States wants to believe it.

The Chinese offensive “has been going on for years and has resulted in a lot of cash payments and a lot of investment,” a senior White House official said on Sunday, “but it’s really not too late.” he assured about the G7 initiative.

“Many countries that have received funds or investments from the BRI program (acronym for the English name “Belt and Road Initiative”) now realize, years later, that they are more indebted than their GDP has not progressed significantly,” said the same source, who did not wish to be named.

“Sub-Saharan Africa will clearly be a major priority” of the partnership launched by the G7, said this senior official.

Risk of “tiredness”

The West has already taken several rounds of sanctions against Russia, whose war against Ukraine has entered its fifth month.

But the Ukrainian government is demanding more, after Russian strikes on Kyiv on Sunday morning, an act of “barbarism” denounced by Mr. Biden.

Faced with a risk of “fatigue”, mentioned by Boris Johnson, of the Western camp, the American president launched a new call for the unity of the G7 and NATO against Moscow.

Vladimir Putin hoped “that somehow NATO and the G7 would split. But we have not done it and we will not do it, ”assured Mr. Biden before an interview with Olaf scholz.

Host of the summit, the German Chancellor also praised the unity of the allies, which “Putin did not expect”, calling on each country “to share the responsibility” of facing the growing challenges of this conflict which is taking hold in the duration.

As Russian troops advance in the Donbass, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will intervene on Monday by videoconference.

Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron “agreed that this was a critical moment for the evolution of the conflict and that it was possible to reverse the course of the war”, according to a spokesperson for the British government.

No “now” negotiated solution

The British Prime Minister, however, warned against any temptation for a negotiated solution “now” in Ukraine at the risk of prolonging “global instability”.

In front of the spectacular panorama of the Alpine peaks, the leaders dropped their ties for the traditional family photo, a brief respite before several work sessions.

The conflict and its repercussions will occupy a large part of the discussions with the first interviews devoted to the global economic turbulence, from the threats of food shortages to galloping inflation, including the energy crisis.

Joe Biden also wants to demonstrate to his allies that standing up to Russia and facing China are complementary, not opposed, objectives.

In particular, the G7 wants to counter China and its “new silk roads” by investing massively in the infrastructure of disadvantaged countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. A project on which the leaders take stock on Sunday.

Weakened leaders

The leaders of Indonesia, India, Senegal, South Africa and Argentina have also been invited to this annual summit as Westerners seek to broaden the front of united democracies against threat of a bloc formed by Russia and China.

These emerging economies are also particularly exposed to the risk of food shortages, the explosion of energy costs aggravated by the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis.

Climate players expect concrete progress from the G7, including “planning” for the complete elimination of fossil fuels. An emergency that Greenpeace intends to recall by deploying a banner at the top of the Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany which dominates Elmau.

Bilateral discussions complete the sessions, starting with the meeting between Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden, two leaders in difficult positions in their own countries.

The German Chancellor is betting on this G7 to restore his declining popularity in recent months, failing to show firm support for Kyiv.

The American president faces an even more fractured America after the Supreme Court challenged the right to abortion, in a country hit hard by high inflation.

Frenchman Emmanuel Macron failed a week ago to obtain an absolute majority in the French National Assembly and will have to deal with other parties, an unprecedented obligation for him. As for Mr. Johnson, weakened by the “Partygate”, he saw his party lose two local elections this week and seems on borrowed time.