EUROPEUS

Even if Angela Merkel tries to sell the “results” of the G8 summit as a success, it isn’t. The not binding declaration of the common will to reduce the CO2 emissions by half until 2050 may be considered as a first step, but at this pace, the world will be heated to death by then. The declarations concerning development and financial aid to Africa sounds nice, but are rather empty. For the time being, the promises made at the last summit are only fulfilled by half and it is about time that the G8 countries do what they had promised.

Wladimir Putin could not get any closer to George Bush and the Russian position seems quite understandable. Putin said in an interview with the SPIEGEL: "We have done as we promised. We withdrew some 300,000 troops behind the Ural and as a reward, the US sets up missile operations in Poland and Bulgaria. What are we supposed to do?” The US position on this topic is that these missile launch stations are needed to counter the Iranian nuclear threat. Putin’s proposal to set up a common operation in Azerbaijan or Turkey was not further commented by Bush. Are the USA up to start a second cold war?

So, there is no outcome of this summit if not the dawn of a new citizen’s movement against this kind of globalization. Besides the fact that the G8 summit lacks a democratic justification (G8 is just the club of the richest nations in the world – common affairs should be handled by the UNO), no progress whatsoever was made. The 100 million € spent could have been used better elsewhere.

Kai Littmann is journalist