In Borgo Egnazia, a luxury resort near the town of Fasano in south Italy's Apulia Region, the Group of Seven (G7) Summit concluded on June 16, with members each having their own strategic considerations and the next steps remaining uncertain.

The summit brought together the leaders of its seven member countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as representatives of the European Union, i.e., European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

U.S. news portal Politico commented that "the gathering of G7 leaders in Italy looks more like the last supper than a display of Western power."

The G7 prides itself as a group of the world's most developed economies and initially focused on the issue of economic governance, Cui Hongjian, a professor of international relations at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told China News Service.

However, in recent years, the U.S. has been trying to turn the group into a tool serving its own geopolitical interests, which, coupled with the bloc's declining influence, are further dividing the members, he added.

On the decline

It "features arguably the weakest gathering of leaders the group has mustered for years. Most of the attendees are distracted by elections or domestic crises, disillusioned by years in office, or clinging desperately to power," continued the Politico article.

During the 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections from June 6 to 9, where far-right parties made significant gains, German and French governing parties took a hit. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party saw its record low in votes, while French President Emmanuel Macron went on to dissolve his country's National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, and take the risk of calling new elections after suffering losses to the far-right opposition. 

In May, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a snap general election for July 4, as his Conservative Party faces an uphill battle to extend its 14 years in power. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been involved in a series of scandals, will likely host next year's edition of the G7 Summit amid a difficult electoral campaign. His Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, in the meantime, has seen his approval levels fall to a historical low of merely 16 percent. 

On the U.S. side, 81-year-old President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was found guilty of three federal gun charges, barely two weeks before his father's first crucial debate with a resurgent Donald Trump in a presidential campaign that the Democrats are in serious danger of losing, according to the Politico article.

According to Alberto Bradanini, Chairman of the Contemporary China Study Center in Italy, the G7, and especially the U.S., perceives itself as being in decline. "A minority of nations represents no more than 10 percent of the world population, with stagnant economies and lower growth rates than emerging countries. Their pathological claims are more evident than ever," he told Xinhua.

Leaders from some 10 other countries were invited to attend this year's summit, including emerging economies such as India, South Africa and Brazil.

"Inviting only a few of the BRICS (a group of emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) countries to the G7 summit was a big mistake," Vito Petrocelli, President of the Italy BRICS Institute, told Xinhua. "In this way, the West made it clear that it is interested in souring relations between BRICS countries rather than in real collaboration with them."

The G7 members have realized that the development and rise of non-Western countries are hard to contain, and the West now can hardly represent the will of most countries in the world, but they still hope to "exert influence on the countries of the Global South and continue their so-called dominance and vested interests," according to Cui.

The Global South refers to the nations of the world that are considered to have a relatively low level of economic and industrial development and are typically located to the south of more industrialized nations.

Although the G7 is striving to maintain its own vitality, and even hopes to play a leadership role in international affairs, its role is actually declining, and its vitality is also questionable, Cui added.

Rubber cheque

According to a joint communiqué released on June 14, after prolonged division on outlining an aid plan for Ukraine, the group has reached an agreement to use the interests from frozen Russian assets to finance around $50 billion in loans for the country.

However, the specifics of the loan deal remain unclear and are expected to be finalized over subsequent months of negotiations.

Cui remarked that Europe and the U.S. hold different perspectives on the matter. "Europe hopes to strike a balance and avoid [potential] harm to its own interests. Given most of the frozen Russian assets are located in EU countries, any retaliatory measures by Russia will mostly affect Europe," he said.

According to statistics from French international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), Western sanctions imposed on Russia after the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis froze about $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank, with a large proportion situated in Europe.

So Europe has legitimate concerns regarding Ukraine's ability to repay loans and the eventual return of these assets to Russia, Cui added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the loan deal as "theft" and vowed that it would not go unpunished.

Debate and disagreement

The G7's joint communiqué emphasized "unity" and "solidarity" more than 10 times throughout the document, which had actually sparked intense debate and disagreement during its drafting process.

Another hot topic during the summit was the future of artificial intelligence (AI) governance. The G7 has vowed to promote "safe, secure and trustworthy AI" and step up efforts to enhance interoperability among AI governance approaches.

However, members thus far have very different views on how to do so. According to media reports, European countries favor tighter, hands-on regulations, whereas the U.S. votes for a more laissez-faire approach. The group seems to have postponed making definitive decisions on a rulebook regarding the topic until the next summit in Canada.

Abortion emerged as one of the key contentious issues among member states, with France and Canada taking a progressive stance, while Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who has led the country's far-right Brothers of Italy political party since 2014—which won the European elections in Italy on June 9, advocated for a more conservative approach.

The previous edition of the G7 Summit in Japan stated the group's commitment to ensuring safe and legal access to abortion, but this year's communiqué did not mention the word "abortion" at all.

The U.S. and Canada in the Americas, as well as Japan in Asia, showed little interest in the issue of migration and refugees arriving in Europe, many of them from poor and war-torn African countries—a major concern of host Italy.

"Without any concrete action, the G7 in Italy amounts to no more than pointless platitudes," David McNair, Executive Director of the U.S. non-governmental organization The ONE Campaign, which advocates for investment in Africa, said. BR

(Print Edition Title: A Meeting of Mood Swings)

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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