A SERIES of major Western diplomatic gatherings began with the Group of Seven (G7) leaders’ meeting in the German mountain resort of Schloss Elmau on Sunday, while thousands of protesters marched in Munich.

Leaders who are attending the three-day G7 summit and those who will show up at the upcoming 2022 NATO summit in Spain are trying to present a show of unity on the Ukraine crisis. Yet the reality is that the closed club is faced with internal differences that are hard to iron out. The group’s Cold War mentality also goes against the trend of the times.

Disputes

Before the start of the G7 meeting Sunday, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds the G7’s rotating presidency, met with U.S. President Joe Biden and the two leaders underlined “the unity of the West.”

“The G7 nations must continue to close ranks,” Scholz said.

In a statement issued Sunday afternoon after having discussions with other leaders, Scholz mentioned global difficulties, which include not just a global economic slowdown, spiking oil prices and rising inflation. Climate change aspirations are being confounded and supply chain problems are hobbling hopes of a post-pandemic return to normality.

And on top of all that, last year’s summit host, the U.K., is threatening to break international laws over its Brexit agreement with the EU — not to mention its controversial plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda — despite the risk of rocking the world order it helped build, and diluting the G7’s already limited effectiveness.

In G7 nations and beyond, inflation is rising, central banks are raising lending rates and a global economic slowdown seems far more likely this year than last. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, predicts that a U.S. recession is “inevitable.”

Earlier, officials from Germany and Britain were reported to push for temporary waivers on biofuels mandates to mitigate soaring food prices. However, Germany had to drop the thought during the summit due to reported resistance from the United States and Canada.

Apart from the food crisis, the dispute over climate actions also grabbed headlines.

A 40-page communique, released in May after G7 climate, energy and environment ministers met in Berlin, said the G7 agreed to achieve “predominantly decarbonized electricity sectors” by 2035. However, the ministers failed to set a date for phasing out coal-powered energy due to objections from the United States and Japan.

The substantial effort to reduce carbon emissions remains a highlighted difficulty for G7 leaders at the summit, as the world’s major industrialized economies, which are primarily responsible for the pollution warming the planet, continue to clash on coal.

G7 host Germany is now in crisis mode as Russia reduces its gas supplies to the country. It is now saying it will fire up more coal plants. That’s a U-turn from last November, when Germany brought forward its deadline to phase out coal to 2030, eight years earlier than planned.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson —who said last year the world had reached a point of no return in phasing out coal — also suggested the U.K. start mining the fossil fuel again for steelmaking. The country will also delay a plan to shut down more existing coal plants ahead of winter.

And to address the oil crisis, Biden is suggesting a tax holiday on fuel as prices at the pump soar.

Top agenda

At the beginning of this year, Germany listed several priorities for the G7 summit, such as striving for a sustainable planet, economic stability and healthy living. Now, the Russian-Ukraine conflict has moved to the top of the summit’s agenda.

Before the summit, Scholz said that G7 leaders would highlight their support for Ukraine “for as long as necessary.” Despite the energy and food shortages and a darkening global economic outlook, Britain, the U.S., Japan and Canada moved to ban imports of Russian gold on the first day of the G7 summit, because, as Biden tweeted, gold imports were “a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia.”

The group has already targeted key Russian energy exports such as crude oil, while the economic reverberations have taken a toll on resource-thirsty European countries, causing rising inflation and soaring energy prices.

The G7 summit invited leaders from Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa, five countries that have been reluctant to follow Western sanctions on Russia.

Introducing sanctions against Russia will not lead to peace, and Argentina will not follow this course of action, Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said in April.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo also has called for a ceasefire in Ukraine and a continued dialogue between Moscow and the West rather than economic sanctions to resolve the crisis.

The disputes won’t end in Madrid this week for NATO members, as Turkey’s concerns have added uncertainties to Finland’s and Sweden’s pursuit of NATO membership, exposing deeper fissures within the military bloc.

“After all, a swift membership of Sweden and Finland to NATO could only exacerbate the Russian-Ukraine crisis. It would mean to pour fuel on the fire,” said Tarik Oguzlu, a professor in international relations at Istanbul’s Aydin University.

Besides, Finland and Sweden’s application is only of “symbolic importance” for NATO, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pointed out. Finland and Sweden are already taking part in NATO activities and their accession to NATO does not change anything, Puhovski said.

Protests

A day before the opening of the G7 summit, protesters took to the street to voice opposition to the G7’s approach to global issues.

On Saturday, around 4,000 people gathered in Theresienwiese, Munich, the capital of Bavaria, 100 km away from the G7 gathering.

Holding posters reading “No to imperialism” and “Distorted justice,” protesters urged the G7 to shoulder their due responsibilities and consider the interests of developing countries.

Lisa Gaetner, a local resident, said that she joined the demonstration to urge the G7 to reduce military spending and increase efforts to combat climate change.

“We have to bond all our efforts together to deal with environmental problems and climate change, instead of being against each other,” said Doris, another resident.

During the summit, hundreds of people joined another protest in the southern German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Protesters also set up tents in the town to express their dissatisfaction.

Days ahead of the summit, eight German riot police vehicles were set on fire in Munich.

About 18,000 police officers were on a mission to maintain order during the meeting in Bavaria. Police from neighboring regions also helped with security. （SD-Xinhua）