G7 discussions dominated by Greek crisis and Russia sanctions

Greece achieved the dubious honour of joining the G7 yesterday despite being neither a member of the group of seven leading industrial nations, nor being on the agenda of its annual meeting in the Bavarian alps.

Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed six other world leaders to the tiny village of Krün to discuss an elusive agreement to tackle climate change and restate the G7's support for sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, resulting in Moscow's exclusion from the meeting for the second consecutive year.

After a week of frantic diplomacy failed to resolve the Greek debt crisis ahead of the G7 gathering, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker launched a stinging attack on prime minister Alexis Tsipras before the world's media.

Mr Juncker was once considered a sympathetic EU ally of the left-wing Syriza leader. Yesterday he said he was disappointed by Mr Tsipras for, in his view, blocking and misrepresenting last week’s efforts by Greece’s EU and IMF creditors to resolve the long-running debt standoff.

Alternative

“I am waiting for an alternative proposal from our Greek counterparts. [Tsipras] presented the offer of the institutions as take it or leave it but this was not the case,” said Mr Juncker at a press conference. “There is a deadline [for Greece] but I don’t say when – not to keep up the suspense but because I don’t want to say anything that would hurt Greece.”

On Wednesday in Brussels the Greek leader said “progress was made” in talks with Mr Juncker. Two days later, in the Greek parliament, he dismissed EU-IMF cash-for-reform proposals as “absurd . . . irrational, blackmailing demands”. Mr Juncker refused to take a call from Mr Tsipras on Saturday.

“I don’t have a personal problem with Tsipras; he was my friend, he is my friend,” said Mr Juncker. “But . . . friends have to respect some minimum rules.”

Ongoing disagreement over a frozen €7.2 billion EU-IMF funding tranche means Athens will struggle to repay €1.5 billion in IMF loans by the end of June. German chancellor Angela Merkel told non-EU G7 members in Elmau that Europe was working “with vigour” on agreement with Athens, but that more work needed to be done to balance solidarity from Europe with Greece’s own initiative.

After a joint appearance at an open-air Bavarian breakfast, Dr Merkel and US president Barack Obama agreed in talks that sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis would remain in place until the ceasefire conditions of the Minsk agreement were met and Moscow respected Ukraine's sovereignty.

That tough line was shared by other leaders at the meeting.

"Russia is not among us and will no longer be invited as long as it acts aggressively towards Ukraine and other countries," said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

With the EU set to vote later this month on extending sanctions, a strong signal on Ukraine was a key priority for the White House in Bavaria.

Climate

An important G7 signal on climate change, meanwhile, was a priority for Dr Merkel and French president

Francois Hollande

ahead of November’s UN climate change conference in Paris.

While the summit communiqué includes a long-term aim to limit global warming to below two degrees, Dr Merkel recently doubled to $8 billion Berlin’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund and wants others to follow suit.

Today’s sessions will address the terrorist threat posed by Islamic State and will include meetings between Mr Obama and the prime minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi.

With a huge police presence in the region, G7 demonstrations remained largely peaceful over the weekend. A march on Saturday through the nearby town of Garmisch-Patenkirchen attracted about 3,500 demonstrators and there were some scuffles with police.

A march of about 1,000 protesters yesterday was mostly peaceful, although demonstrators blocked approach roads to the five-star Elmau Castle hotel for a brief time.

Locals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen have reacted with remarkable equanimity to the weekend colonisation of their town by politicians, delegations, media and police.

"The people who've come to us want a better world," Fr Josef Konitzer told his flock at the pretty church of St Martin. "Sadly, we humans are world class in not taking responsibility for the things we do."