Their role in the context of current multiple crises and the global environment
By Pedro Henriques
Interested with the same intensity in arts, cinématographie, history, football, politics, music and the future of our globe, The Portugal-born Pedro Henriques studied law and European studies, became university assistant, Commission intern and Commission official, , the Uruguay Trade Round, industrial aspects of environmental policies, environmental integration into external relations, TACIS programme, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, became an EU diplomat in Moscow (leaving his “finger prints” in Kaliningrad) and Guatemala, returned to Brussels to work on the UN, the EU development aspects and EU delegate at the G7 and G20.
At the beginning of February 2023, Frank Schwalba-Hoth, ex MEP, convinced Pedro Henriques to share with us his insight and foresight. Especially in the light of the two summits (G7: 19/21 May Hiroshima) (G20: 09/10 September New Delhi), plus the B20, L20, C20, S20, T20, U20, W20 and Y20 sectorial summits.
LHCH had sent a reporter who summarized the conference.
How do the G7 and G 20 work in a crisis, like today? What is their use? They are not real international organizations as such. They depend on their country-president each time. But precisely, when it participates in these summits, the European Union has the status of a country?
Each year, the heads of state and government of the seven major industrial powers (G7) and the twenty most important economic and political states (G20) meet at the invitation of the respective presidency. At each summit, a summit statement (communiqué) is adopted with the most important outcomes of the meeting. The themes for the summit are prepared by the sherpas, the governments’ chief negotiators.
And what about international organizations like the World Bank or the United Nations? They help the organizing country through their structure, their team, as well as the very numerous “engagement groups”.
There are also the “working groups” formed by the ministers of the summit countries and highlighting the priorities of the day’s debate.
G7
The Group of 7 (G7) is an informal forum of heads of state and government of the seven major industrial powers: Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.
In response to the oil crisis and the collapse of the system of fixed exchange rates (Bretton Woods), the first “world economic summit” took place in 1975 at the Château de Rambouillet in France at the initiative of the former president French Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and preceded the G7 between the Heads of State and Government of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and the USA. Canada became a member of the G7 in 1976. Since 1981, the European Union (formerly the European Community) has also been a regular participant in the meetings. From 1998 to 2014, the G7 also met with Russia as part of the G8. In response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation contrary to international law, the member states of the G7 announced on March 24, 2014, on the sidelines of the nuclear security summit in The Hague, the suspension of their participation in the G8.
Content-wise, the G7 focuses on topics of international economic and trade policy, foreign and security policy as well as development, energy and climate policy. In addition to Heads of State and Government meetings, G7 Finance Ministers and National Bank Governors also meet regularly to discuss monetary and financial policy issues. In addition, foreign ministers meet each year before the summit to discuss current foreign and security policy challenges. Other G7 Ministers also meet depending on the agenda of the current Presidency.
G20
The Group of 20 (G20) has been meeting at the level of finance ministers and national bank governors since 1998, with the aim of fostering international financial stability after the 1997 Asian crisis. Since the economic and financial crisis of 2008, G20 Heads of State and Government also meet annually at G20 Summits to jointly address international challenges. Since then, the G20 has become an important informal meeting for intergovernmental cooperation at the level of heads of state and government and is devoted beyond traditional financial and monetary policy to other topics such as international trade, digitization and energy policy.
G20 member states represent around two-thirds of the world’s population, just over 80% of global gross domestic product as well as three-quarters of world trade and three-quarters of international development assistance. They are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, France, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia , Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the USA as well as the EU (as a representative of its Member States, as long as these are not members of the G20). Also invited to the G20 are Spain as a permanent guest as well as the presidencies of the 3G group, the AU, NEPAD and APEC. Other different international organizations are invited to G20 meetings according to the specific topics covered and provide valuable specific contribution to the G20 through their work (including United Nations, World Trade Organization, OECD, International Monetary Fund al, the World Bank, the Financial Stability Forum, the International Labor Organization and the World Health Organization). In addition, each G20 presidency decides for itself whether it wishes to invite other selected host countries.
What is the use of the G7 and G20?
The G7 and the G20 aim to create spaces for direct dialogue between the representatives of the world’s largest economic powers, but also with those of the developing countries which have an increasingly significant weight, particularly in the economic and financial fields.
The G7 and the G20 are regular meetings between the biggest economic powers of the world, but also of certain developing countries. These are not meetings that have an official character, such as those of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, or the United Nations.
The world economic summits of the G7 and the G20 do not enter into an institutionalized framework. They are an opportunity for joint declarations by the major world powers in terms of the economy but also with regard to broader areas such as the climate, development, work, security, terrorism, etc., with the aim to solve common problems together.
BUT the declarations of the G7 and the G20 have no official or legal value, so they do not entail any obligation to act for the States represented in these international meetings. Rather, these declarations reflect the intentions desired by the leaders of this world in order to promote specific policies. Their scope is therefore limited even if they meet with wide resonance.
As the Banque de France points out, the G7, in particular, nevertheless became at the end of the 1980s “a framework for consultation prior to coordinated interventions by central banks on the foreign exchange markets”. This group of countries has also acted in favor of poor countries by deciding, for example, to cancel their debts in consultation with the IMF and the World Bank.
The G20 is today the most important body. It is no longer confined solely to the subject of the supervision and regulation of the financial markets. During the G20 meetings, in fact, subjects such as the control of debt and public deficits, the fight against tax havens, employment, digital technology, education, development, agriculture are discussed. sustainability, stimulating global economic growth, etc.
Critics ?
The G7 is useful, indeed necessary, at a key moment in world history, when common values and working together are more essential than ever to strengthen liberal democracy and save a rules-based international order. While the G7 definitely has its flaws, its benefits, in my 30-year experience of summiting, far outweigh them. The G7, ultimately, functions quite well as a body of influence, although its ability to address global issues and respond to citizens’ concerns could be improved. He finds himself in the hot seat today, for reasons that are mainly due to the perception of rising global inequalities, a criticism often fueled by isolationist and xenophobic elements.
Informal global governance
The G7 remains an informal global governance group. Unlike most international institutions, such as the United Nations, it has no charter, joint secretariat or voting mechanism. Its procedures have developed over time, and are not particularly esoteric. Decisions and communiqués from meetings between leaders or ministers are based on consensus. While this mode of operation is more practicable in a body of seven members (plus the EU) than in an organization of 193 countries like the UN, decision-making by consensus, even in a small group, has its advantages and disadvantages.
First advantage of decision-making by consensus: a single voice is expressed, that of members united to identify priorities and ready to commit to results. This means that even if objections were raised, members were able to negotiate and achieve consensus. The political signal sent to the world is thus very strong. This was the case during the global sovereign debt crisis in 2008-2009, and for the decision to strip Russia of its G8 membership after its intervention in Crimea. Speaking with one voice is especially important today, in a globalized and fractured world. It is crucial that the most vulnerable populations and communities – those for whom the G7 can have the greatest impact – can trust the group and its willingness to work together to implement real change.
Traditionally, after n a G7 summit, the Heads of State or Government publish a communiqué reflecting their discussions but also the initiatives on which they have agreed during the long months of negotiations between Sherpas. This document is intended to demonstrate the unity and the driving role of the G7 towards the rest of the world, to encourage the member countries to pursue internally the policies and initiatives for which an agreement has been reached (with the adaptations specific to a democratic system), and to distinguish initiatives ready for implementation from more ambitious ones that still need to be worked on at future summits or ministerial meetings – at the G7 or elsewhere.
Ministerial meetings and SHERPAS
Ministerial meetings are also very useful for making progress on the topics on the G7 agenda. They produce their own final documents – statements, communiqués or summaries by the presidency. Organizing and preparing for these meetings is the responsibility of senior officials in the relevant departments and ministries, and the plethora of working groups contributing to the preparatory negotiations. Under the French presidency, there are 34 negotiating groups – slightly more than in Canada last year. They include Sherpas, “Sous-Sherpas” (usually senior officials in Foreign Ministries), Deputy Ministers of Finance and Governors of Central Banks, Political Directors of Foreign Ministries, and such diverse groups as the Foreign Investment Task Force, the G7-DPRK Sanctions Task Force, the Lyon-Rome Task Force for International Combating Crime and Terrorism, the Security Task Force Food and Health Experts Working Group…
China and the issue of energy storage
The next G7 and G 20 will highlight the issue of green energies and their storage. An area where China currently shines, especially in the European market.
Recall that with the rise of energy conservation and environmental protection industries, the country has made steady and remarkable progress in the development of new energies. In 2021, the output value of China’s energy conservation and environmental protection industries exceeded 8 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), according to the white paper.
By the end of 2021, installed renewable energy capacity across the country was over 1 billion kilowatts, or 44.8 percent of China’s overall installed capacity. The installed capacity of hydroelectric, wind and photovoltaic energy each exceeded 300 million kilowatts, all ranking among the highest in the world.
Conclusion
LHCH journalist wanted to know the best time for Pedro Henriques who is mandated by the E.U. to officiate in the Sherpas? He directly answered : « When the EU has participated in an “agreement” and it is notified in official documents ».
