The (unknown) G8 Agenda
Laura Sunderland, Senior Researcher a the G8 Information Centre of he University to compiled information about the upcoming agenda and referring to an article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The problem with the agenda is of course that many of the issues remain highly disputed and it is unclear whether they make it to the G8 discussion table.
I don’t know where Ulrich Schäfer from the Süddeutsche Zeitung got his news from, but apparently he has good contacts into the Chancellor’s Office maybe from here. I will try to confirm this by attending a conference in Berlin today about the G8 Energy Policy where German’s sherpa Bernd Pfaffenbach will be there as well. Me and some friends want to present him an idea for a Model G8 conference.
In any case, it seems that the G8 agenda is still unresolved even within the chancellor’s office. Reuters News writes that there will be another session of the German Cabinet (the round table of Federal Ministers including the Chancellor and the Sherpa) to discuss the priorities of the German government, however “there are no results to be expected. Instead the meeting will be a general brain-storming on values, goals, importance and role of the European Union and the german role within the EU” – which to me sounds like a big dispute nicely packaged. Some ministers have also pushed forward for their own priorities, for instance German minister of Environment Sigmar Gabriel (blog can be found here).
According to various people working for the Federal Government, the ministries have a large problem coordinating the G8 activities (and even more the activities during the German EU presidency) because each ressort wants to claim as much influence as possible.
PS That the G8 Agenda of Germany will focus on something related to Delevopment and Africa is rumoured throughout the NGO scene, the source probably being the conservative fraction in the German parliament and their recent press release (also found here). However I have heard today that Merkel also wants to focus on Southern and Eastern Europe. The idea that Hedge Fonds will be a big issue at the G8 summit is discussed in various articles (such as here at the Financial Times) and commented by the Linkspartei in the German Parliament), but most people that I have talked too were very skeptical whether this indeed will be a big priority.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:22
[...] The green fraction (Bündnis 90/Grüne) in the German Parliament (Bundestag) is dissatisfied with the information policy concerning the priorities of the G8 summit. They claim that the G8 agenda has been published in various newspapers (see the summary), but the parliament has not been informed. Therefore they initiated a inquiry (so called Kleine Anfrage) which the the government has to answer within a short time period. [...]
November 7th, 2006 at 21:25
[...] The federal government met on Sunday to discuss the agenda of the upcoming G8 and EU presidency (see German transcript of the Press Conference and English press release). The priorities seemed to be the EU presidency (such as Turkey, EU Borders, Constitution) but climate protection seems to be a growing (public) priority for the G8 agenda. However the opposition in the German parliament, especially the Green party, is not satisfied: they claim that Merkel and Germany need to become active now and not focus on what happens 2012 (see Article in Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung) The cabinet did discuss a motto for their EU presidency: “Gemeinsam gelingt Europa” – Together Europe succeeds. Maybe the G8 motto will be similar: Together the G8 succeeds. [...]
Oktober 13th, 2007 at 15:28
[...] of the G8 summit. They claim that the G8 agenda has been published in various newspapers (see the summary), but the parliament has not been informed. Therefore they initiated a inquiry (so called Kleine [...]
Oktober 13th, 2007 at 15:59
[...] EU Borders, Constitution) but climate protection seems to be a growing (public) priority for the G8 agenda. However the opposition in the German parliament, especially the Green party, is not satisfied: [...]