Berlin and Paris push for G20 to be clear on ‘war’

This Friday, Germany and France defended the inclusion of the term “war” in the final communique of the G20 financial group, a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite the reluctance of India, the host country of the meeting.

Like China, India has not condemned Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and has been increasing imports of Russian oil for a year now.

According to press reports cited by AFP, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposes the inclusion of the term “war” in the G20 joint financial communiqué. The meeting ends on Saturday in Bagalore.

“For a year now, we have been witnessing this terrible war unleashed by Russia,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told reporters.

“And especially on a day like this, we need absolute clarity,” the minister said, referring to the past year since the start of the Russian offensive, which began on February 24, 2022.

“This is a war that has only one reason – Russia and [o presidente russo] Vladimir Putin,” he added, believing that “this should be clearly stated at this meeting” of the G20.

In November, during the G20 summit in Indonesia, the final declaration stated that “the majority of members (countries) strongly condemned the war.”

Any more moderate wording in India would be “unacceptable to Germany,” the German minister warned.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire supported the statements of his German counterpart.

“We express our disagreement with any digression in the joint communiqué regarding the statement made in Bali about the war in Ukraine,” he said at a press conference.

“We are fully confident that India will make a strong statement,” he added.

Some G20 meetings ended without a joint statement due to a lack of consensus among the group’s members.