It is being the international moment of Giorgia Meloni. And be the hostess of a G7 summit –the group of the seven richest democratic countries in the world: the USA, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy– in Puglia could not help but place it at the center of the scene, literally.
As the member leaders arrived yesterday Thursday morning, the Italian Prime Minister received them personally, one by one, in the town of Borgo Egnazia. The luxury resort built in stone, these days is being the center of attention around the world amidst a tight security system.
Many of its guests, like the French Macron and the german Scholz, are not exactly experiencing their best political moment and the tension was palpable on several occasions throughout yesterday. The American president, Joe Biden, was delayed 20 minutes before being received by the Italian; who while he took the opportunity to make a selfie with journalists.
Meloni has been seen as very hostess, also a result of the moment of political boom that she herself is leading as ultraconservative leader in Europe. And a G7 is the best showcase as well as not only a European leader, but also a Western one. In the first family photo, with Giorgia Meloni in the middle of the image, in addition to seeing herself as the only full female leader of the G7, she was also The only one – alongside Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Rishi Sunak, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, among others – that could boast a political boom in the midst of leaders, in some way or another, in low hours.
Ukraine, the star topic
On the first day of this G7 summit in Puglia, the topics discussed at the working tables focused on Africa, climate change and development, and the Middle East. But the star theme, however, has been future of Ukraine. A fact that has been further emphasized by the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky, who, after having been received by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Borgo Egnazia, participated in one of the work sessions along with the rest of the G7 leaders.
It has been a very fruitful trip for the kyiv leader, since in the same day he has achieved two great results: obtaining nearly 50 billion dollars in the form of a loan, which may be used before the end of the year; and a military agreement with the United States for the next decade.
After months of long negotiations, an original formula has been found to be one’s own Russia, which indirectly finances reconstruction from the country that Vladimir Putin attacked more than two years ago.
Volodymyr Zelensky talks with Giorgia Meloni, Olaf Scholz and Justin Trudeau during the G7 meeting in Fasano.
Reuters
The key is precisely in the capital belonging to the Central Bank of Russia, frozen in Western countries since the war in Ukraine began: 285 billion dollars belonging to Moscow They are distributed between the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, of which 210,000 are specifically in Belgium. Russian funds, still frozen, generate profits. These benefits are what kyiv can finance as a loan.
In other words: kyiv will receive about $50 billion as a loan from Western countries to finance its reconstruction; where the benefits derived from the Russian funds will be the guarantee of repayment of the loan itself, taking into account that these benefits range between 3,000 and 5,000 million euros annually.
The measure has not been welcomed in Moscow, where the Foreign Minister’s spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has stated that if Western countries use the benefits from frozen Russian funds, Russia’s response will be “extremely painful” towards the EU. The host of the G7, the head of the Transalpine Government, Giorgia Meloni, is clear about the loan for Ukraine: “It is a result that I am proud of.”
The US-Ukraine agreement
Late in the afternoon, around nine at night, the president of the United States, Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky; They offered a press conference in which they formalized a security agreement for the next decadein Biden’s words, to “strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities.”
The security agreement, outside the G7 although announced in Puglia on the occasion of it in the presence of Zelensky, provides for the commitment of the United States to Ukraine so that the country has military means so that it can continue to defend itself of Russia in the future.
This G7 summit, on its second day, will focus on migration, in the Indo-Pacific area and economic security, artificial intelligence, energy and relations between Africa and the Mediterranean.
There will be many guests who do not belong to the G7, like the Argentine president Javier Mileithe Turk Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the indian Narendra Modi; that will be overshadowed by the presence of the Pope Francisco. Personally invited by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to intervene on artificial intelligence; Jorge Mario Bergoglio will be the first pontiff in history to participate in a G7 work session.
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