The G7 summit began this Thursday in Italy, where host Giorgia Meloni welcomed the leaders of the seven richest nations in the world, gathered with a common plan: close an agreement for an ambitious aid plan for Ukraine, financed with Russian assets.
Representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States will also discuss issues such as the war in Gaza.
Leaders from Africa and the Indo-Pacific region, and Latin America, such as President Javier Milei, and Economic cooperation with developing countries will be discussed.
The group cannot pass laws. However, some of his past decisions have had global effects, including backing an agreement in 2021 to tax multinational companies.
Russian funds for Ukraine
The Group of Seven began its summit with an agreement on the US proposal for back $50 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateralgiving kyiv a strong show of support as the balance of power in Europe shifts to the right following last weekend’s European elections.
Most of these funds are held in the European Union.
A French official who briefed reporters on Wednesday said that a political decision had been reached, but they still had to resolve technical details and legal aspects of the mechanism to access assets. The issue was complicated because if Russian assets were ever unfrozen—for example, if the war ended—then the proceeds could no longer be used to repay the loan, requiring an agreement from other countries to share the burden.
Why not give Ukraine the frozen assets?
That’s much harder to do.
For more than a year, officials in several countries have debated the legality of confiscating the money and sending it to Ukraine.
The United States and its allies immediately froze all Russian central bank assets to which they had access when Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022; basically, the money that was in banks outside of Russia.
Giorgia Meloni selfie with the press. Photo: EFEThe assets They are immobilized and Moscow cannot access thembut They still belong to Russia.
While governments can generally freeze property or funds without difficulty, convert them into forfeited assets that can be used for the benefit of Ukraine requires an additional layer of judicial procedure, including a legal basis and a decision in court.
On the other hand, the United States passed a law earlier this year called the REPO Act (short for the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act) that allows the Biden administration to seize $5 billion in Russian state assets located in the United States and use them for profit. from kyiv.
Joe Biden during the work day at the summit. Photo: APThat agreement is still being worked out.
The summit in a luxury resort and the Pope, as a guest
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received the G7 heads of government at the summit in Borgo Egnazia, a luxurious seaside resort in southern Italy, and said she wanted the meeting to convey a message of unity and dialogue with the global south.
He compared the G7 to the ancient olive trees that are the symbol of the Apulia region “with its solid roots, and branches reaching towards the future.”
Pope Francis would become the first pope to address a G7 summit. Photo: APAside from the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis would become the first pope who was heading to a G7 summit, which added a touch of celebrity and moral authority to the annual eventin the sunny Italian region of Apulia.
The pontiff will speak on friday about the promises and dangers of artificial intelligencealthough it is expected that he will also reiterate his request for a peaceful end to the Russian invasion full scale in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Italy, which is hosting this year, has invited several African leaders, such as the president of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune; that of Kenya, William Ruto, and that of Tunisia, Kais Saied, to promote Italian and migratory initiatives on the continent.
An employee cleans the summit logo before Zelensky’s arrival. Photo: ReutersOther guests are the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky; the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who arrives after being re-elected, and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Milei.
Biden; British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and now French President Emmanuel Macron face elections in the coming months, which increased pressure on the G7 to achieve results before the status quo changed.
With information from Associated Press, RFI and BBC news
