Berlin, June 24, 2022 (AFP) – As the war on Ukraine enters its fifth month, the G7 and NATO nations will seek to reaffirm their unity with Russia at their summit meetings, starting Sunday. term.
Leaders of the G7, including US President Joe Biden, will meet at the annual meeting of the club of seven of the world’s most industrialized nations, at Castle Elmau in the Bavarian Alps, from Sunday 26: Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Both this meeting and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit to be held in Madrid for two days from Tuesday 28 will focus on supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
Olaf Scholz, the German head of government hosting the G7, reminded this week that support for Ukraine will take “perseverance”, but stressed that we are “still a long way from” peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
“Russia’s aggression has made the seven countries more aware that they need each other,” said Stefan Meister, a researcher at the German institute DGAP. This is all the more evident given that inflation and the threat of an energy and food crisis may test the resilience of the international community.
Norway’s NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine could last “for years”.
– Another ‘Marshall Plan’? -Leaders can discuss the possibility of implementing some kind of “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Ukraine, an idea launched by Scholz this week that could cost “billions” and span “several generations”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with G7 leaders via videoconference on Monday and is expected to call for more arms and more pressure on Russia.
He will also attend from afar the NATO summit, which will bring together 30 countries in the final stage of an intense diplomatic marathon, which this Thursday (23) began with a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, in which Ukraine gained candidate status. for the European Union (EU).
The alliance should disclose its plans to protect the eastern flank close to Russia.
A defense reinforcement, accompanied by a new “strategic concept” – the first revision of the alliance’s agenda in a decade – should harden its position with regard to Russia and, for the first time, talk about the challenges presented by China.
However, Turkey’s blockade of the Swedish and Finnish candidacy casts a shadow on the alliance’s show of unity.
– ‘On the edge’ – Germany’s chancellor stressed that in order to “stay on track” with respect to Russia, economic sanctions should not be eased and military and financial support to Ukraine should not be reduced.
However, after several rounds of sanctions, Stefan Meister said, “we are borderline in particular energy sanctions,” which “has a high cost to the G7 and the world economy.”
The German government accuses Moscow of drastically reducing gas supplies to provoke an energy crisis in Europe before winter. Additionally, many regions are affected by rising food prices.
In this context, the participation of Argentina, Indonesia, India, Senegal and South Africa in the G7 sends an important message.
“A major challenge is convincing the many non-Western countries that are skeptical of the sanctions that the West is taking their concerns into account,” said Thorsten Brenner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute.
source: Noticias
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