The 48th G7 summit will take place from June 26th to 28th, 2022 in Schloss Elmau, a five-star hotel above the village of Klais in the Wetterstein mountains. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is the host. Numerous demos are planned around the summit. FOCUS Online reports in the Newsticker.
6:59 a.m .: Opponents of the G7 summit in Elmau, Upper Bavaria, want to continue their protest against the meeting of top politicians on Monday morning. A star march (from 10 a.m.) on several routes to the conference venue at Schloss Elmau is planned. Ultimately, however, only some of the demonstrators will come near the castle at all.
It is planned that a 50-strong police delegation will be brought in buses within sight of the summit site in order to be able to hold a rally there. The remaining participants will have to end their protest marches further away from the castle.
Several thousand people demonstrated in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Munich at the weekend on the occasion of the G7 summit. However, there were significantly fewer participants than at similar rallies seven years ago, when a G7 meeting had already taken place in Elmau. The demonstrations were accompanied by a massive police presence in both cities, and there were a few arrests.
The protest is directed against the meeting of the heads of state and government of seven leading industrial nations that started on Sunday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had invited his colleagues to the luxury hotel Schloss Elmau, just a few kilometers from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, until Tuesday. One of the central themes of the rallies was the demand that the industrialized countries must do more to combat the climate crisis. The war in Ukraine also played a role in the demos.
6:07 a.m .: The heads of state and government from seven major industrialized countries (G7) continue their summit on Monday (10 a.m.). The second of three summit days at Schloss Elmau will begin with a session on the Ukraine war. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who was connected via video, also takes part in it. An assessment of the effectiveness of the G7 sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war was already on the agenda on Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, it will continue with consultations on climate, energy and health policy. The heads of state and government from the five guest countries Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa are taking part. In the afternoon there will be another working session on food safety and gender equality, to which UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also been invited. The summit ends on Tuesday afternoon.
Monday, June 27, 7:05 a.m .: The police found six violations of the Assembly Act during the demonstration against the G7 meeting in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Upper Bavaria, on Sunday. Supporters of the so-called “Black Block” would have knotted banners, lit smoke pots or masked themselves.
Among those whose personal details were determined were a woman and a minor. During the check, both stated that they suffered from circulatory problems. So the ambulance was called. The protest alliance “Stop G7 Elmau”, on the other hand, reported that five people had been arrested and two of them “were in custody for “violations of the right of assembly”, one of them a minor.
Overall, the protests were peaceful, the police said early Monday morning. A police officer was injured when arresting a 38-year-old and was no longer able to work. The man insulted the emergency services after he had already left the demo. He had put up massive resistance to his arrest and had also been injured himself.
The police spoke of a total of 900 participants in the demonstration, the organizers saw more than twice as many at 2,000. The central topics included the climate crisis and the fear of an escalation of the Ukraine war.
The rally was accompanied by a massive contingent of security forces. A total of 18,000 police officers are on duty in the region for the summit.
9:51 p.m .: In an interview with the “heute journal” on ZDF on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Elmau, the President of the European Commission said: “It is important to tell him in his face what we think of him and what we think of this Keep the way we act.” But the G20 is too important a body, even for the developing countries, to let Putin “break it up”: “I think it’s better to tell him when he comes, to him face to say what we think of it. And then he should also take a stand.”
In addition, Ukraine will be supported for as long as it is necessary, that was the basic motto of the evening at the G7 summit: “This is about whether the democracies will prevail, or whether the aggressor who brutally invades Ukraine will prevail has”, says von der Leyen: “Other autocrats in the world are looking very closely at whether it is still possible to move borders and invade countries with brute force, military power, or whether the democracies will stand up and use their own strength, and that is above all the economic power to give an appropriate answer and say: stop, up to here and no further.”
7:39 p.m .: The G7 group of leading democratic industrialized countries wants to compete with China with a global infrastructure initiative. At their summit in Bavaria, the heads of state and government of the G7 would formally launch a “Partnership for Global Infrastructure”, the White House announced on Sunday. The project, which was announced last year, is intended to be an alternative to the “New Silk Road” project launched by China in 2013, with which the country is opening up new trade routes to Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
“Together with G7 partners, we want to mobilize $600 billion for global infrastructure investments by 2027,” the White House said. US President Joe Biden will announce that the United States will invest $200 billion over the next five years in grants, federal funds and to mobilize private sector investment to create sustainable infrastructure “that improves the lives of people around the world, strengthens and diversifies our supply chains, creates new opportunities for American workers and businesses, and advances our national security.”
A US official said Sunday the US-launched initiative targets low- and middle-income countries. The aim is infrastructure investments “that the countries need without being dictated from outside”. The projects would be bound to high standards “to ensure that these investments are economically and commercially driven and do not result in debt traps”. Countries with funds from the Chinese project found their debts mounting and the “so-called investments” not reaching the people.
5:41 p.m .: The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and its consequences are the dominant topics of the G7 summit. But serious as the situation is, just before their first working session, the G7 leaders poked fun at Russian President Vladimir Putin. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the last to join the round at Schloss Elmau on Sunday afternoon, as can be seen on television pictures.
In view of the high temperatures, he asked whether jackets were to be taken off or not, and added: “We all have to show that we are tougher than Putin.” one do. He alluded to a well-known photo of Putin in such a pose. The quotes were recorded by camera crews who were briefly allowed to film in the room before the start of the G7 round
3:55 p.m .: At the beginning of the G7 summit in Bavaria, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the current accumulation of global crises. “All G7 countries are concerned about the crises we are currently dealing with,” said Scholz on Sunday after the first working session of the summit at Schloss Elmau.
“Declining growth rates, rising inflation, supply chain disruptions – none of these are small challenges,” he said. However, the G7 group is the right format “to develop common answers to the challenges of the time”.
The G7 group sees itself as a community of values - especially when it comes to dealing with Russia, said the Chancellor. “We are united by our view of the world, by our belief in democracy and the rule of law.”
After the attack on Ukraine, Russia must continue to count on the “determination and unity” of the group of seven major Western economic powers, said the Chancellor. “It is safe to say that Putin did not expect this and that this continues to give him a headache: the great international support for Ukraine and the bravery of Ukrainians in defending the country.”
3.45 p.m .: The demo train of around 800 demonstrators has reached downtown Garmisch. Occasionally pyro smoke candles were ignited. Around 100 demonstrators from the “Black Block”, which is known for its propensity to use violence, are accompanied by a continuous cordon of police officers in full gear. The district office had originally expected 3,000 participants.
2:56 p.m .: (FOCUS Online reporter Ulf Lüdeke in Garmisch): The official “Stop G7” protest demo began in Garmisch-Partenkirchen early on Sunday afternoon. The demo train is much smaller than many had expected and currently consists of a few hundred participants, including a few dozen people from the “Black Block”.
Some participants were disappointed with the small number of participants. “It’s a pity that there is so little support from the population,” said a young demonstrator who traveled from Munich. “I think that’s mainly because many people are unsure about their attitude to the Ukraine war,” said the young woman to FOCUS Online. And from her point of view, the strong police presence also contributed to the fact that many demonstrators and supporters were deterred. The demo train is to lead across the city center of Garmisch and end at 7 p.m. A total of 18,000 police officers are on duty in the region for the summit.
1:22 p.m .: The US proposals for enforcing a price cap for Russian oil are not yet one hundred percent convincing from the EU’s point of view. “We want to go into more detail. We want fine-tuning,” said EU Council President Charles Michel on Sunday, shortly before discussions on the subject at the G7 summit in Elmau. The aim is to ensure that all 27 EU countries can support such a project.
According to Michel, among other things, a clear idea of the direct effects and possible side effects of the planned mechanism for a price cap is needed. Accordingly, it must be clear that this really affects Russia and not only ensures that the situation for the EU becomes even more difficult and complex. Asked if there could be an agreement at the G7 meeting, Michel said: “I’m cautious.”
The US proposal envisages forcing Russia to sell oil to large buyers such as India at a significantly lower price in the future. This could work by the West tying services such as insurance for oil shipments to compliance with the price cap. On the one hand, the upper limit is intended to ensure that Russia no longer benefits from price increases on the energy market. On the other hand, it should contribute to a relaxation on the oil markets worldwide. Not only in the EU, but also in the USA, the high fuel prices are currently a big issue.
12.56 p.m .: After Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his wife Britta Ernst welcomed the international guests to Schloss Elmau, the exchange is now ongoing: on the first day of the summit, the global economic situation, climate protection and foreign and security policy with the sanctions advised against Russia.
While their partners are meeting, there is a partner program for Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French President, Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie, Amélie Derbaudrenghien, the wife of EU Council President Charles Michel, and hostess Britta Ernst, all about the summit at Schloss Elmau. The following activities are on the agenda: Nordic walking with the ski stars Christian Neureuther and his daughter-in-law Miriam, talks with researchers from Germany’s highest environmental research station in the Schneefernerhaus and a meeting with a master violin maker from Mittenwald.
12:19 p.m .: After the G7 demonstration in Munich, four participants were still held on Sunday morning. A judge should decide later today whether they should be held in custody, a police spokesman said. The investigators accuse the four activists of assaulting police officers with dangerous bodily harm.
The background is clashes between demonstrators and police officers at the rally on Saturday through Munich. The police are investigating a total of six activists for violence against those in uniform.
11:00 a.m .: Before the G7 meeting in Bavaria, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden vowed to unite the West in the face of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. “And the good news is that we all managed to stay united, which of course Putin didn’t expect,” Scholz said at a bilateral meeting with Biden on Sunday at Schloss Elmau. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not expect this unity.
Biden emphasized that this unity was in no small part also due to Scholz. “You did an incredible job,” Biden said. “I want to thank you for that.” The US President also emphasized: “We have to stay together.” Putin expected that the G7 and NATO would be split. That has not happened and will not happen. Biden emphasized that Germany is one of the United States’ closest allies.
After the meeting, the White House announced that Biden had welcomed Germany’s “historic commitment” to significantly increase defense spending at the bilateral talks. Biden and Scholz underlined that they would continue to provide military, economic, humanitarian and diplomatic support to Ukraine. Another topic was how the effects of the war in Ukraine on global food and energy security could be mitigated. The challenges emanating from China were also discussed.
You can read more about the G7 summit in Elmau on the following pages.
