Jump to content

33rd G8 summit: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Lucy-marie (talk | contribs)
10,326 edits
→‎Composition of summit leaders: do not confuse the EU as a hosting nation
Lucy-marie (talk | contribs)
10,326 edits
→‎Permanent: do not confuse the EU as a country or being able to host a summit
Line 30: Line 30:
* {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} '''[[United Kingdom]]''' [[Tony Blair]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]
* {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} '''[[United Kingdom]]''' [[Tony Blair]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]
* {{flagicon|USA}} '''[[United States]]''' [[George W. Bush]], [[President of the United States|President]]
* {{flagicon|USA}} '''[[United States]]''' [[George W. Bush]], [[President of the United States|President]]
* {{flagicon|EU}} '''[[European Union]]''' [[Jose Manuel Barroso]], [[President of the European Commission|Commission President]]<ref name="Merkel"/>


===Invited (partial participation)===
===Invited (partial participation)===

Revision as of 16:44, 20 July 2008

33rd G8 Summit
File:G8 Heiligendamm 2007.png
33rd G8 Summit official logo
Host countryGermany
DatesJune 6 – June 8,
G8 "family photo" at the Heiligendamm summit. From left are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission; President Nicolas Sarkozy of France; President Vladimir Putin of Russia; Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan; Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany; Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy, and President George W. Bush of the United States.

The 33rd G8 summit took place at Kempinski Grand Hotel in Heiligendamm in the old Duchy of Mecklenburg in the Northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the Baltic Coast, from June 6 to June 8 2007.The locations of previous G8 summits to have been hosted by Germany include: Bonn (1978, 1985); Munich (1992) and Cologne (1999).

The G8 is an unofficial forum which brings together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976), Russia (since 1998),[1] the President of the European Commission (since 1981).[2]

The G8 summits during the twenty-first century have also involved widespread parallel debates and protests by citizens.

Composition of summit leaders

US president George W. Bush and German chancellor Angela Merkel at the summit.

The core membership of the G8 has remained constant since Russia joined the talks at the 1997 summit in Denver.

Permanent

This was the first G8 summit for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the final one for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Invited (partial participation)

The leaders of a number of non-G8 countries were invited to attend and participate in the summit.

G8+5

The G8 plus the five largest emerging economies has come to be known as G8+5.

Heads of international organizations

Leaders of the major international organizations, such as the United Nations, WTO, OECD, World Bank, the African Union and the International Energy Agency, have also been invited to participate in the outreach sessions.

Priorities

Heiligendamm security fence was designed not to fail.

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda for negotiations, which take place primarily amongst multi-national civil servants in the weeks before the summit itself, leading to a joint declaration which all countries can agree to sign.[4] In any event, security for the world leaders and for the venue remained a high priority throughout.

Schedule and Agenda

At the end of the 32nd G8 summit in Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reported that the agenda of the G8 summit in 2007 had not been determined, but "the struggle against poverty across the globe will be a priority."[5]

According to the official German Presidency website, the summit's motto was "Growth and Responsibility," focusing on "Investition, Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit (Investment, Innovation and Sustainability)", and "Africa: good governance, sustainable investment, peace and security".[6] Transparency of the financial markets, intellectual property and energy efficiency will also be on the agenda, as well as talks about climate change.

On April 13, 2007, Oil Change International released a reported leaked draft of the economic communique.[7] The G8 financial ministers began pre-summit meetings on 30 May 2007.[8]

Citizens' responses and authorities' counter-responses

Campaign stunt before the summit by Oxfam International

Protesters and demonstrations

As with all recent G8 summits, the event drew large protests, part of the anti-globalization movement (a term not generally used by its supporters). However, because of the isolated location of the summit, protests were much smaller than in previous years. On December 29, 2006, anonymous protesters splattered the Kempinski hotel with red and black paintbombs; the combination of red and black is a common symbol of the anarchist movement for flags, banners, stickers etc.

Expecting violent protests, shop owners in Rostock boarded up their shops
Watercannon in operation during the June 2nd protests in Rostock.

For the 33rd G8 summit, the local police expected about 100,000 protesters from all parts of Germany and other countries. Preparations were nervous on both sides: 16,000 policemen and over 1,000 soldiers were deployed to protect the interests of the G8 heads of state and government, a 12 kilometer-long steel fence was built around Heiligendamm for the price of €12.4 million (approx. $16.6 million), and ATTAC Germany chartered three trains to get as many discontented citizens as possible from the farther parts of Germany and nearby countries to the year's biggest unified demonstration against G8,[9] along with numerous buses organized by various groups and political parties. The main demonstration took place June 2, 2007 in the nearby city of Rostock and was the starting event for a week of protests and blockades. Organizers spoke of up to 80,000 participants, while police put the figure at an estimated 25,000.[10] Towards the end of the June 2 protest, violent clashes occurred between protesters and the police, essentially limited to a small area at the harbor. Initially, these drew wide media overstatement, with initial reports claiming nearly 1000 people injured (433 German police officers, 30–33 of them requiring hospitalisation,[11] and 520 protesters, 20 requiring hospitalisation[12]). Later, these figures were disputed,[13] and the number of police requiring hospitalization was corrected to 2.[14] According to police estimates, 2,000 autonomists led the riots, setting fire to a total of 3 cars and setting up make-shift barricades; many peaceful protesters fled the action and ensuing police response in panic.[15] Over 1,000 protesters were detained, and nine of them were tried and condemned during the summit [16]. Hundreds were expelled [16]. According to the European Democratic Lawyers NGO:

The evidence collected in this manner was absolutely inconsistent and as previously noted everybody detained was released after brief periods of time. In fact it all amounts to an illegal system of mass-indexing and psychological terrorism. The police was aware that the judicial authority would not have confirmed these arrests but proceeded equally with a different objective. The aim was not to arrest presumed offenders but the indexing of a great number of demonstrators, the psychological intimidation of the protesters and the creation of false records to be used in other occasions.[16]

A protest also occurred on 2 June 2007 on the river bank opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, principally a reminder of the G8's previous (and, as the protestors saw them, unfulfilled) promises on debt relief, entitled "G8 – The World Can't Wait" and "Wake Up To Poverty". It was a static protest, with small marches converging on in from Lambeth Park and Methodist Central Hall, on a route starting at the foot of Victoria Tower, along the riverbank of Victoria Tower Gardens, the north side of Lambeth Bridge, and the southern riverbank opposite Parliament as far as (but not including) Westminster Bridge. This principally involved the protesters setting off alarm clocks at 2pm as a "wakeup call" to the G8, and passed without incident.[17]

Accomplishments

The G8 summit is an international event which is observed and reported by news media, but the G8's continuing relevance after more than 30 years is somewhat unclear.[18] More than one analyst suggests that a G-8 summit is not the place to flesh out the details of any difficult or controversial policy issue in the context of a three-day event. Rather, the meeting offers an opportunity to bring a range of complex and sometimes inter-related issues. The G8 summit brings leaders together "not so they can dream up quick fixes, but to talk and think about them together."[19] [5]

Global warming

See also: Post-Kyoto Protocol negotiations on greenhouse gas emissions

In a non-binding communiqué issued on Thursday June 7, it was announced that the G8 nations would 'aim to at least halve global CO2 emissions by 2050'. The details enabling this to be achieved would be negotiated by environment ministers within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in a process that would also include the major emerging economies. Groups of countries would also be able to reach additional agreements on achieving the goal outside and in parallel with the United Nations process.[20]

The G8 also announced their desire to use the proceeds from the auction of emission rights and other financial tools to support climate protection projects in developing countries.[20]

The agreement was welcomed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair as 'a major, major step forward'.[21] French president Nicolas Sarkozy would have preferred a binding figure for emissions reduction to have been set.[22] This was apparently blocked by U.S. President George W. Bush until the other major greenhouse gas emitting countries, like India and China, make similar commitments.[23][24]

Missile defence system

En route to the summit, U.S. president George Bush attempted to assuage Russian concerns over U.S. plans to construct a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic with remarks appearing to invite Russian participation in the project. At the summit, Russian president Vladimir Putin responded by suggesting that the radar installments for the proposed missile defence system be placed in Azerbaijan. Bush, in turn, responded by describing Putin's ideas as "an interesting suggestion".

G8+5 Institutionalisation

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the establishment of the "Heiligendamm Process" through which the full institutionalisation of the permanent dialogue between the G8 countries and the 5 greatest emerging economies will be implemented.

This process puts an end to the enlargement debate of the G8 into a hypothetical G9, G11, etc. since Merkel declared "The objective is the cohesion of all these countries into a single group which will be called G8+5".

Controversed video of Sarkozy

Contrary to French TV, the Belgian TV network diffused a video of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who appeared to be drunk after a chat with Russian head of state Vladimir Putin [25].

Location

Kempinski Grand Hotel Heiligendamm

Heiligendamm is the oldest seaside resort in Germany[26] on the Baltic, developed in 1793 as the seaside meeting place of nobility and high society close to Frederick Francis I, Duke of Mecklenburg. It was selected as the location for the G8 summit due to its isolated location, in anticipation of protests such as those in Gleneagles and St Petersburg. The summit site was fenced off by 12 km long barrier, costing an approximate EUR 12.4 million.[27]

Heiligendamm, known as "White Town by the Sea", also used to be the summer getaway of the Russian imperial family, who also were related to the Dukes of Mecklenburg. For the occasion of the G8 summit, a former summer residence of the imperial family was demolished to make space for a media centre.[27]

References

  1. ^ Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008.
  2. ^ Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", July 3, 2008.
  3. ^ a b Angela Merkel attended as German Chancellor and as the President of the European Council
  4. ^ G8 Information Centre: Prospective agenda
  5. ^ a b "German Chancellor holds news conference on results of G8 summit". G8Russia. 2006-07-17. Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Official Agenda, g-8.de
  7. ^ Template:PDFlink, draft of February 2007
  8. ^ "Ministers in talks for G8 summit", BBC News, 30 May 2007
  9. ^ Press release of the demonstration consortium, 24 April 2007
  10. ^ - SPIEGEL.de international edition
  11. ^ Yahoo.de News: Zahl der verletzten Polizisten in Rostock auf 433 gestiegen
  12. ^ Yahoo.de News: Organisatoren zählen 520 verletzte Demonstranten nach Krawallen
  13. ^ Focus online: Rostock-Krawalle: Zahl der Verletzten zweifelhaft
  14. ^ junge Welt: Kampf um die Köpfe
  15. ^ German city rocked by violent riots - SPIEGEL.de international edition
  16. ^ a b c European Democratic Lawyers (EDL): Press statement (in English)
  17. ^ "Wakeup call" demonstration
  18. ^ Lee, Don. "On eve of summit, G-8's relevance is unclear," Los Angeles Times. July 6, 2008.
  19. ^ Feldman, Adam. "What's Wrong With The G-8," Forbes (New York). July 7, 2008.
  20. ^ a b Breakthrough on climate protection, G8 Summit 2007 Heiligendamm, published 2007-06-07, accessed 2007-06-07
  21. ^ PM hails G8 climate change step Guardian Unlimited, published 2007-06-07, accessed 2007-06-07
  22. ^ Sarkozy says would have preferred climate change target to be binding, Forbes, published 2007-06-07, accessed 2007-06-07
  23. ^ G8 leaders agree "substantial" greenhouse gas cuts, Reuters, published 2007-06-07, accessed 2007-06-07
  24. ^ G8 Summit Declaration - US Comments May 14-1
  25. ^ The Controversed Video of Sarkozy in the G8, Le Monde, 10 June 2007 (with links to the video)
  26. ^ "Heiligendamm - First German Seaside Resort". Retrieved 2006-07-19.
  27. ^ a b Heiligendamm Prepares for the G8 Summit. Deutsche Welle, 17 February 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.

See also

External links

Post-Kyoto agreement is subject of G8 debate at Wikinews

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 33rd G8 summit.

General

Security

In the media

Preceded by 33rd G8 summit
2007
Germany 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=33rd_G8_summit&oldid=226831614"