G20: Merkel Seeks United European Front before Stormy Summit
Local Editor
German Chancellor Angela Merkel huddles with western European allies Thursday to draw up a battle strategy a week before she hosts what is expected to be the most fractious G20 summit in years.
With US President Donald Trump preaching "America First" and dismissing climate change, Western allies are struggling to find a common front at the gathering -- unlike previous summits when differences were drawn along global north-south and east-west lines.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman in the volatile mix for the July 7-8 power meeting, the list of potential minefield issues include the Syrian war, the Ukraine conflict and the diplomatic shut-out of Qatar.
Trump's anti-immigration stance has also emboldened many of the EU's eastern ex-communist members which have obstinately opposed Merkel's pleas to accept larger shares of the refugees who have flocked to Europe.
"Merkel has called a summit between Europeans because there is a problem with the relationship with Trump," said a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"It's necessary to ensure European cohesion because within the G20, it's complicated."
Besides the transatlantic fault line, "there is also a new European division growing between east and west," noted Jean-Dominique Giuliani, president of Paris-based think-tank Fondation Robert Schuman.
The differences were buried when wealthier EU members supported the east, at a time of "financial flows towards central and eastern Europe", he said, adding that "they are reappearing again on the question of refugees".
Threatening to deepen divisions, Trump will head to Warsaw for a summit of central and eastern European leaders, likely including Hungary's hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a day ahead of the G20.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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