The finance ministers of the leading industrialized and emerging countries (G20) were unable to agree on a joint final declaration at their meeting in São Paulo due to disagreements over the war in Ukraine. The dpa learned this from negotiating circles. Instead, the presidency country, Brazil, published its own summary.
In this summary, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are only mentioned in a footnote. The ministers addressed ongoing wars, conflicts and humanitarian crises and particularly highlighted Ukraine and Gaza, it said. Brazil, as host of the G20 meeting, does not consider a meeting of finance ministers to be the right forum to clarify such geopolitical questions.
The Brazilians wanted to ignore the geopolitical crises and shift the debate about them to meetings of foreign ministers and heads of state and government. They wanted to focus the finance ministers’ discussions purely on economic policy issues.
Lindner: Despite intensive efforts, no consensus
Finance Minister Christian Lindner emphasized that despite intensive efforts from all sides, it was not possible to find a consensus. A joint declaration failed because “we were unable to agree on a common language for assessing the consequences of the war in Ukraine on the global economy.” There was also an attempt to equate the Russian attack on Ukraine with the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Germany couldn’t support that.
The FDP leader had already emphasized during the meeting that Germany could not agree to a final declaration that did not mention the geopolitical conflicts. There is the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the terror of Hamas and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “All of this cannot leave us indifferent; it must also be discussed here. We have opposed abandoning these questions,” he said. There should be no habituation effect that would virtually normalize the war against Ukraine.
After a G20 meeting, common assessments and goals are usually recorded in a communiqué. Since the Ukraine war, talks have repeatedly stalled because Russia is also a member of the group. Even at their meeting in India last year, the finance ministers were unable to agree on a common formulation.