Itâs Grrrrr8 (honest)
From The Times
June 6, 2007
As the G8 summit begins in Germany, Hugo Rifkind explains everything you need to know â and lots of stuff you didnât
A is for Angela Merkel
Merkel, the German Chancellor, will be hosting her first G8 summit, in Heiligendamm, Germany. A Christian Democrat, and formerly known as competent, if rather drab, she reinvented herself to become Germanyâs first female Chancellor in 2005 by getting some highlights done and playing Angieby the Rolling Stones at her political rallies. Although she only narrowly beat Gerhard Schroeder, the incumbent, in that election, her popularity has subsequently grown. The G8 will be her biggest moment so far on the international stage, and her motto for the summit is âWachstum und Verantworting!â. This may sound like an expensive brand of stereo, but translates as âGrowth and Sustainability!â
B is for Bush George W. Bush. That one. What with climate change almost guaranteed to be a major theme of the G8 summit, the US President last week infuriated the Germans and pretty much everybody else (except for loyal Tony Blair) with a surprise announcement of his own rather vague climate change proposals. Her thunder now somewhat stolen, Merkel is still hoping for a more concrete commitment from G8 members, which would ideally see them cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.
C is for Countries The members of the G8 are the UK, the US, Germany, France, Japan, Russia, Canada and Italy. People tend to forget about the last two in pub quizzes.
D is for Development Expect much talk about the Millennium Development Goals: eight development targets agreed upon at the Millennium Summit in New York, in September 2000, to be achieved by 2015. Although more of a UN initiative than a G8 one (all 189 UN states signed the Mil-
E is for Education Universal Primary Education is one of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals). In much of Africa in particular, only half or fewer of all children complete primary school. On the plus side, as of 2004, 20 million more African children are attending school. To meet the goal, another 47 million must be enrolled by 2010.
F is for Formality Technically, there isnât any. Donât be fooled by the suits, ties, armies of wonks and bottomless legions of aides and hangers-on. Unlike the UN or most other multinational bodies, the G8 is theoretically supposed to be an utterly informal meeting of national leaders.
G is for Gleneagles The Gleneagles G8 summit of 2005 is the recent summit that most remember, thanks largely to Bob Geldofâs simultaneous Live8 concert. Various commitments were made to write off Third World Debt and boost aid. Two years, on (reckons Debt Aid Trade Africa, at data.org ) the UK and Japan are broadly on track with their commitments, and the US and Canada have increased aid, but by less than they promised. Germany and France have not increased theirs, and Italyâs has actually been cut. Nobody seems quite sure about Russia.
H is for Heiligendamm Heiligendamm is the small Baltic beach resort where the G8 summit will be taking place. It was founded in 1793 by Friedrich Franz I, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, after a recommendation from his doctor, and is famed for its beautiful white classicist buildings.
Within Germany, this white town by the sea is often known as Die WeiÃe Stadt am Meer. This means The White Town by the Sea. A literal folk, the Germans.
I is for India and China Most estimates currently give China the fourth largest GDP in the world. India hovers at around number 10, but is the worldâs most populous democracy. It is thus a little strange, many feel (especially if they live in India or China) that neither has a place in the G8. Particularly as, in terms of GDP, the World Bank places Canada at number nine (below poor, neglected Spain) and Russia (shaky in the democracy stakes) way down at 14.
So. This is where it all gets a bit confusing. For some meetings, the G8 includes India, China, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, and is known as the G8+5.
For others it sits without Russia, and is known as the G7. Similarly, there is also a G11, a G33, a J8 and a D8, there used to be a P8, and there are two entirely separate G20s. Try not to worry about this.
J is for Japan Still the second largest national economy in the world, by quite a long way.
K is for Kosovo A potential diplomatic flashpoint. In brief, Russia doesnât want Kosovo to become an independent state, and almost everybody else (bar the angry, angry Serbs) does.
L is for Leadership The presidency of the G8 rotates between the member countries. In 2008 the summit will be in Japan , and in 2009 Italy. The UK has its next turn in 2013.
M is for Mortality and also for Mothers Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health are two of the Millennium Development Goals. As of 2004 (reports the World Bank) large swaths of Africa and considerable chunks of Asia have a mortality rate among underfives of approaching one in ten. In parts of Africa, one mother dies for every 100 children born.
N is for Nukes Iran and North Korea are the obvious problems on the summit table, but there is also the growing row between Russia and the US over proposed American missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic.
O is for Origins Surprisingly murky. The ball probably started rolling in 1974, when the US invited officials from the UK, West Germany and Japan to discuss the global economy.
The following year, perhaps not entirely by coincidence, the neglected French seized the initiative, and invited the leaders of Italy, West Germany, Japan, the UK and the US to a summit.
This began as the G6, expanded to become the G7 when Canada joined in 1976, and became the G8, with Russia added, in 1998.
P is for Poverty Another Millennium Development Goal.
By 2015, the aim is to have eradicated extreme poverty and hunger throughout the world.
There isnât much chance of this. If current trends continue, the World Bank reckons, by then one in ten people will still be living on less than $1 a day.
Q is for Quantity Between them, the members of the G8 represent an estimated 65 per cent of the worldâs economy. In global population terms, however, they represent a fraction of that. Particularly notably, there is not a single G8 member from the extremely populous southern hemisphere.
R is for Russia Ah, Russia. According to one US foreign policy expert (Simon Serfaty, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies), Vladimir Putin is âthe elephant in the roomâ. Russia has rumbling disagreements with the US over security, the EU over energy and the UK over shadowy events which may or may not have happened over tea in a London hotel. In a TV interview last week, George Bush was even moved to describe Putin as âmy friendâ. Things must be bad.
S is for Security Currently, Heiligendamm is surrounded by 12 km (7 miles) of protective fencing, and a 2km terrestrial exclusion zone, with another exclusion zone out to sea. The site has been sealed against nonaccredited individuals since last Wednesday, roads and rail lines have been blocked off, barriers have been built out to the sea, and 16,000 police are on duty. Itâs like the beginning of a Die Hard movie.
T is for Transparency As far as Germany is concerned, top of the G8 agenda, even above climate change, is the very unsexy issue of transparency in hedge funds.
In essence (and quickly, before you doze off) German authorities are worried that the hedge fund industry is so huge, murky and opaque that it could destabilise the world economy.
Angela Merkel is keen to force hedge funds to be more transparent, but has backed down slightly in the face of resistance from the UK, the US and Japan, who feel that things are just fine. Can you guess where most hedge funds are based? Indeed. The UK, the US and Japan.
U is for the Great Unwashed By some estimates, there are as many as 100,000 protestors converging on Rostock, the nearest accessible city to Heiligendamm.
They are environmentalists, squatters, anti-globalisationists, anticapitalists, antiwar activists and antimany other things. Many are currently living in huge temporary tent cities dotted around Heiligendamm, and some may even have brought soap.
V is for Vaccination Combating HIV, Aids and malaria is yet another Millennium Development Goal, and was the subject of several pledges at Gleneagles. Tuberculosis is also a growing problem. Within Africa (says data.org) the provision of antiretrovirals to combat HIV has increased dramatically, although over 70 per cent of those who need them still arenât getting them. Meanwhile, 18 million nets and 23 million malaria treatments have been distributed. Polio prevention has been a particular success, with Niger and Egypt removed from the list of polio-endemic countries in 2006. Nonetheless, in cash terms, most G8 members are failing to meet their commitments.
W is for Women Likewise, the Millennium Development Goals pledged to âpromote gender equality and empower womenâ. In terms of progress, this is a tricky one to measure.
The World Bank monitors equality in education and equality in employment, and hopes to see equality throughout the former by 2015. Angela Merkel herself is the only female G8 leader, and the third in history, after our own Baroness Thatcher, and Canadaâs Prime Minister of five months in 1993, Kim Campbell.
X is for Xenophobia When Russia headed the G8 in 2006, domestic xenophobia was a major issue. And thank God, because xylophones werenât, at all.
Y is for Young People Not all of the young people gathering in Germany are wearing black jeans and hoodies with pictures of cannabis plants on them. Some are members of the J8, a junior G8 programme designed to âgive young people from around the world the chance to voice their opinions on global issues and raise their awareness of their role as global citizensâ. There ainât no party like a J8 party. Possibly.
Z is for Zimbabwe Although Merkel has promised they will be discussed, the continuing problems in Robert Mugabeâs Zimbabwe are not likely to be a major issue at the G8 summit. Nonetheless, it does begin with a âZâ.
