33rd G8 summit

Heiligendamm is the oldest seaside resort in Germany^[2] on the Baltic, developed in 1793 as the seaside meeting place of nobility and high society close to Frederick Francis I, Duke of Mecklenburg. It was selected as the location for the G8 summit due to its isolated location, in anticipation of protests such as those in Gleneagles and St Petersburg. The summit site was fenced off by 12 km long barrier, costing an approximate EUR 12.4 million.^[3]

Heiligendamm, known as "White Town by the Sea", also used to be the summer getaway of the Russian imperial family, who also were related to the Dukes of Mecklenburg. For the occasion of the G8 summit, a former summer residence of the imperial family was demolished to make space for a media centre.^[3]

[edit] Agenda

At the end of the 32nd G8 summit in Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reported that the agenda of the G8 summit in 2007 had not been determined, but "the struggle against poverty across the globe will be a priority."^[1]

According to the official German Presidency website, the summit's motto was "Growth and Responsibility," focusing on "Investition, Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit (Investment, Innovation and Sustainability)", and "Africa: good governance, sustainable investment, peace and security".^[4] Transparency of the financial markets, intellectual property and energy efficiency will also be on the agenda, as well as talks about climate change.

On April 13, 2007, Oil Change International released a reported leaked draft of the economic communique.^[5] The G8 financial ministers began pre-summit meetings on 30 May 2007.^[6]

This was the first G8 summit for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the final one for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[edit] Outcomes

[edit] Global warming

See also: Post-Kyoto negotiations on greenhouse gas emissions

In a non-binding communiqué issued on Thursday June 7, it was announced that the G8 nations would 'aim to at least halve global CO₂ emissions by 2050'. The details enabling this to be achieved would be negotiated by environment ministers within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in a process that would also include the major emerging economies. Groups of countries would also be able to reach additional agreements on achieving the goal outside and in parallel with the United Nations process.^[7]

The G8 also announced their desire to use the proceeds from the auction of emission rights and other financial tools to support climate protection projects in developing countries.^[7]

The agreement was welcomed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair as 'a major, major step forward'.^[8] French president Nicolas Sarkozy would have preferred a binding figure for emissions reduction to have been set.^[9] This was apparently blocked by U.S. President George W. Bush until the other major greenhouse gas emitting countries, like India and China, make similar commitments.^[10]^[11]

[edit] Missile defence system

En route to the summit, U.S. president George Bush attempted to assuage Russian concerns over U.S. plans to construct a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic with remarks appearing to invite Russian participation in the project. At the summit, Russian president Vladimir Putin responded by suggesting that the radar installations for the proposed missile defence system be placed in Azerbaijan. Bush, in turn, responded by describing Putin's ideas as "an interesting suggestion".

[edit] G8+5 Institutionalisation

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the establishment of the "Heiligendamm Process" through which the full institutionalisation of the permanent dialogue between the G8 countries and the 5 greatest emerging economies will be implemented.

This process puts an end to the enlargement debate of the G8 into a hypothetical G9, G11, etc. since Merkel declared "The objective is the cohesion of all these countries into a single group which will be called G8+5".

[edit] Controversed video of Sarkozy

Contrary to French TV, the Belgian TV network diffused a video of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who appeared to be drunk after a chat with Russian head of state Vladimir Putin ^[12].

[edit] Protests and activism

On December 29, 2006, anonymous protesters splattered the Kempinski hotel with red and black paintbombs; the combination of red and black is a common symbol of the anarchist movement for flags, banners, stickers etc.

Image:Boarded up shops, Rostock, Germany, before G8 summit 2007.jpg

Expecting violent protests, shop owners in Rostock boarded up their shops

Image:SSL13116.JPG

Watercannon in operation during the June 2nd protests in Rostock.

For the 33rd G8 summit, the local police expected about 100,000 protesters from all parts of Germany and other countries. Preparations were nervous on both sides: 16,000 policemen and over 1,000 soldiers were deployed to protect the interests of the G8 countries as well as heads of state and government, the 12 kilometer-long steel fence has been built around Heiligendamm for the price of €12.4 million (approx. $16.6 million), while ATTAC Germany has chartered three trains to get as many discontented citizens as possible from the farther parts of Germany and nearby countries to what is expected to be this year's biggest unified demonstration against G8,^[13] along with numerous buses organized by various groups and political parties. The main demonstration took place June 2, 2007 in the nearby city of Rostock and was the starting event for a whole week of protests and blockades. While organizers spoke of up to 80,000 participants, police put the figure at an estimated 25,000.^[14] Anticipation is high by protesters for a strengthening of the anti-globalization movement. As at previous G8 summits, some protests have turned into violent riots. Towards the end of the June 2 protest, violent clashes between protesters and the police, though essentially limited to a small area at the harbor, were initially reported to have injured nearly 1000 people (433 German police officers, 30–33 of them requiring hospitalisation,^[15] and 520 protesters, 20 requiring hospitalisation^[16]). Later, these figures were disputed,^[17] and the number of police requiring hospitalization was corrected to 2.^[18] According to police estimates, 2,000 autonomists led the riots, setting fire to a total of 3 cars and setting up make-shift barricades; many peaceful protesters fled the scene in panic.^[19] Over 1,000 protesters were detained, and nine of them were tried and condemned during the summit ^[20]. Hundreds were expelled ^[20]. According to the European Democratic Lawyers NGO:

The evidence collected in this manner was absolutely inconsistent and as previously noted everybody detained was released after brief periods of time. In fact it all amounts to an illegal system of mass-indexing and psychological terrorism. The police was aware that the judicial authority would not have confirmed these arrests but proceeded equally with a different objective. The aim was not to arrest presumed offenders but the indexing of a great number of demonstrators, the psychological intimidation of the protesters and the creation of false records to be used in other occasions.^[20]

A protest also occurred on 2 June 2007 on the river bank opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, principally a reminder of the G8's previous (and, as the protestors saw them, unfulfilled) promises on debt relief, entitled "G8 – The World Can't Wait" and "Wake Up To Poverty". It was a static protest, with small marches converging on in from Lambeth Park and Methodist Central Hall, on a route starting at the foot of Victoria Tower, along the riverbank of Victoria Tower Gardens, the north side of Lambeth Bridge, and the southern riverbank opposite Parliament as far as (but not including) Westminster Bridge. This principally involved the protesters setting off alarm clocks at 2pm as a "wakeup call" to the G8, and passed without incident. [1]