G7 commit to climate protection
Six months before the climate conference in Paris, the participants at the G7 summit in Bavaria have agreed on sweeping climate targets and tougher sanctions against Moscow. The media praises the climate protection goals but finds the summit format outdated.
Hope for the climate
The ambitious climate goals set at the G7 summit are at least a start, comments the liberal daily De Standaard approvingly: "The biggest polluters like Russia, China, India and Australia are still blocking progress. Current figures show that the consumption of old-fashioned coal is increasing once more. The low oil prices with which the Opec countries had hoped to torpedo North America's fracking industry are reducing the sense of urgency regarding investing in renewable energies. … So there's reason enough not to start popping the champagne yet. … Cynicism is a safe bet - it's mostly the cynics who are right. But cynics don't ever change anything. Nor do the naïve, it's true. But at least they try."
G7 countries past their prime
The G7 summit is an outdated format, the left-liberal daily Der Standard believes: "The German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted her G7 colleagues in a marvellous, sunny mountain setting with brass instruments, beer and oompah music, signalling to the world: we're looking for solutions. ... But the question remains: was it worth it? Of course there can be no denying that the leaders of the seven most important Western industrial states need to talk to each other from time to time. But the format is no longer as significant as it once was. Twenty years ago the G7 group represented 50 percent of global economic growth, today it's just a third. It will now be some time before the whole summit circus sets up camp in Germany again. Nevertheless if one can make a request: surely the meeting could be pulled off with fewer clichés and less expenditure of time and money next time round."
Summit of harmony
The mood at the G7 summit was astoundingly relaxed, the conservative daily ABC comments in surprise: "At this year's meeting of global leaders the relaxed atmosphere wasn't just for show. There were many topics to deal with and some of them urgent, for instance terrorism. But none of the participants came along with an important issue that could cause major tensions. And there were even several points on which they could all congratulate each other in advance. The global economy has improved, as have the financial controls, and then there's the progress in the negotiations on the TTIP transatlantic trade agreement, which may enter their final phase soon. And without allowing themselves to be influenced by the idyllic setting [of Schloss Elmau] everyone was able to observe that we're not by any means in the worst moment of the last few years."
Obama closes ranks
The G7's declaration according to which the sanctions against Moscow may be tightened if deemed necessary is a clear victory for US President Barack Obama, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino concludes: "Closing ranks against Moscow was the goal that Obama had set himself in view of accusations from the Republican opposition at home that he's doing more to reach an agreement in the nuclear dispute with Iran than to make progress in the Ukraine crisis and establish a solid basis for a transatlantic union. … The transatlantic union has clearly become more and more of a priority for Obama as a firm believer in the principle that economy and geopolitics go hand in hand. So it is no mere coincident that the final document of the G7 summit foresees an acceleration in the negotiations that are to lead to a stronger alliance between the states on both sides of the Atlantic. Washington rejects the definition 'economic Nato'. But how else to describe the TTIP free trade agreement Obama defined as a goal in his state of the union address of 2013?"