A new pitch to the world

The world convened in the diameter stretching from Cornwall to Brussels in June. Not the entire world; quite a small part of it, actually. But the back-to-back meetings of the G7 and NATO took a globalist view.

Leaders were eager to offer the international community a common project based on the principles of f ree-market economics and liberal democracy, drawing a contrast with competing systems, namely China. Aware that ideals such as freedom of expression or waste reduction may be too lofty to address the immediate challenges of low-to-middle income countries, the representatives of the richest nations focused instead on development opportunities.

The G7 summit produced a general framework that aims to reverse the coronavirus pandemic and establish systems that prevent similar ones in the future, to tackle the climate crisis and build a more equal global economy. Nevertheless, the 25-page document has been criticised for lack of firm commitments. Even the pledge to ramp up the donation of Covid-19 vaccines to lower-income countries to a billion doses by the end of the year did little to impress observers.

Leaders in the summit took the opportunity to discuss regional matters, mainly security concerns in Afghanistan, Ukraine, and, inevitably, Turkey. Ankara’s ambitions on the world stage are a double-edged sword, particularly for the EU nation’s whose foreign policy it looks likely to impact. Only a few months ago, a confrontation between Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan had ripple effects on French domestic policy too. A NATO member, Turkey is a complicated issue for G7 governments to untangle.