“This G7 was truly a success. Our countries have reaffirmed full and great cohesion, great unity of views in particular as regards the war in Ukraine and its consequences on a humanitarian, economic and social level". The Prime Minister said so Mario Draghi in the press conference at the end of the summit G7 at Elmau Castle in Germany. "We have reaffirmed our commitment on the sanctions front, which is essential to bring Russia back to the negotiating table", continued Draghi, adding that "the G7 is ready to support Ukraine for as long as necessary".
The Food Crisis: The Plan to Unblock Wheat
About the plan for unfreeze grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, “the UN secretary general Guterres used the words 'we are now close to the moment of truth' to understand whether Ukraine and Russia will want to sign an agreement that will allow grain to leave the ports. The situation must be unblocked quickly to store the new crop”, said the former number one of the ECB.
"Overall, there is good news on grain exports from Ukraine", he continued, "many of us, if not all, thought that it was necessary to de-mine the ports, but now it seems there are, indeed there are safe corridors through which to pass the ships, this means gaining time”.
In fact, the final declaration of the summit of the 7 reads: Russia "put an unconditional end to the blockade of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea" and stop "destroying port transport infrastructure, terminals and grain silos" and "appropriating illegally of Ukrainian agricultural products and equipment”.
To that end, "we pledge an additional $4,5 billion to protect the most vulnerable from hunger and malnutrition, for a total of more than $14 billion in our joint global food security pledge this year."
Price cap on gas and oil
“All leaders agree on the need to limit Putin's funding – added Draghi – but also to remove the causes of inflation. We have urgently mandated ministers on how to apply a price cap on gas and oil. The EU will accelerate its work on the ceiling on the price of gas, a decision we welcome."
But above all we "hope" a result before October. “It is important that the discussion is solid – he explained -, on a rational and not just a psychological basis. This does not mean that psychology is not rational." “For now it is difficult to understand what will Russia do with gas, we continue trying to prepare ourselves, increasing stocks and investments in renewables and also long-term investments in renewables in developing countries”.
"The eurozone economy is slowing down but we don't see the risk of a recession and the Italian one is doing better than we expected a couple of months ago," Draghi stressed. “In the first week of the war we moved very quickly to diversify supplies and have already partially replaced them. Importantly, some people worry that gas fears will set us back on ours goals climate: it won't happen,” Draghi added. "Storages are growing, almost 60% and we plan to improve the situation and complete them, so as to manage the transition towards the moment in which we will be completely independent from Russian gas", added the premier.
Sanctions on Russia, Draghi: "We reaffirm our commitment"
On sanctions "we have also reaffirmed our commitment, which is essential to bring Russia to the negotiating table", declared the former ECB, reiterating that "peace must be what Ukraine wants but, as the president said American Biden, we must be ready to seize the spaces for dialogue ”.
Draghi: "A sense of unity reaffirmed from the NATO summit"
As one summit closes, another opens. "From the NATO summit we expect the reaffirmation of this sense of unity and firmness of the G7 and then probably an expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland – added Draghi -. The effects of this war are unpredictable, we find ourselves with a more united EU, a more united and probably larger NATO": the countries "are looking for protection and rearmament. Things didn't go as Putin would have liked."
And added on the presence of the President Putin at the G20, that “the Indonesian president excludes him, he was categorical, he will not come. A remote intervention could happen, we will see … ”, explained Draghi.
Draghi: "G7 is a powerful minority, we need to bring other countries closer"
“The G7 remains the most important connection and coordination point in the world for politics tout court”, said the prime minister. “However, we need to be aware that we now represent a minority. A powerful minority undoubtedly ”, he explained, according to which the“ countries and the United States are the most major vaccine donors, compared to China and Russia. China has big numbers but it doesn't seem like they work much, for Russia it's a small number”.
"To prevent autocracies from spreading throughout the world, it is necessary to bring other countries closer together, to make them participate," said Draghi, speaking of the other countries invited by the German presidency to the summit. “I expect this reaching other countries of the world to continue. The discussion that took place in the enlarged discussion was very important. Many of these countries have a neutral attitude between Russia and Ukraine", recalled the Prime Minister, underlining how many of "they have not been approached" and included in the debate.
