euro|topics - G8 summit in Japan

Main focus of Monday, July 7, 2008

G8 summit in Japan

The G8 summit starts today in Japan. During the talks, the leaders of the world's major industrial nations will strive among other things to come up with solutions to the food crisis. But does this group have the ability - or the legitimacy - to solve such global problems?

The Times - United Kingdom

The Times calls on the G8 to concentrate on goals it can achieve. "It is increasingly the fate of the G8 to be overestimated. Both governments and campaigners have an unreasonably elevated view of its capacity to do good. The summit that begins today should see a return to basics. ... There is, however, an important task that the summit might achieve in both policy and international governance. Policy-makers in the advanced industrial democracies face the unenviable prospect of faltering growth and surging inflation. ... A coordinated international response to the credit crisis might involve an understanding whereby rapidly growing emerging economies allow their currencies to appreciate, thereby dampening inflationary pressures and creating the conditions for renewed global economic stability." (07/07/2008)

Jyllands-Posten - Denmark

The daily Jyllands-Posten urges the G8 to open its doors to new members so it can better react to acute problems: "The economic problems are now serious and extensive and the global economy is on the brink of recession. But how can the G8 leaders make decisions about the economy if the finance ministers and heads of central banks are not present? And how can they make decisions about oil prices without OPEC? It is high time the self-satisfied members of this old club realised that they can no longer regard themselves as the driving force behind the global economy. This club must be open to new members who play a key role in the current problems. Otherwise it will become so irrelevant that the best thing to do would be to close it down altogether." (07/07/2008)

Rue89 - France

The news blog Rue89 analyses the future of the G8 meeting: "For a long time the G8 summit has conveyed the fantasy image of a 'global executive'. Today the leaders of the world's major industrial states will discuss whether their structure has any meaning at all in the absence of emerging economies like China, India or Brazil. ... The G8 summit that opens today on Hokkaido is perhaps the last of its kind. ... The absence of the emerging markets ... makes this club of white executives increasingly anachronistic. ... [Nevertheless] the real question is: why enlarge the G8? ... The United Nations Organisation has more legitimacy than the G8 - or G20 - to be the 'global executive'." (06/07/2008)

Die Zeit - Germany

Parag Khanna, a member of the political think tank The New America Foundation, believes G8 summits are obsolete in the globalised world and argues Europe should play a stronger role: "Where do we get the notion that a central authority ... could set the tone in a globalised world? Globalisation follows ... decentralisation. Power, technology and knowledge are all being decentralised. They migrate primarily ... to states one could call the new 'Second World', the next international set after the very rich and powerful. This comprises the rising powers in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. ... What we will see is a multi-polarity of non-Western powers, in which economic growth does not automatically bring freedom and human rights. Europe will play a special role as a sort of hyper or network state between the US and China. ... It is high time the Europeans started thinking and acting for themselves. To this end the EU must become strong and capable of strategic action." (07/07/2008)

» To the complete press review of Monday, July 7, 2008

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