Global social, political tensions dominate G-8 summit

The first meeting took place in 1975 when the government leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States met at the castle of Rambouillet near Paris for so-called “fire side talks”. The meeting was the result of an initiative by French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. After the breakdown of the Bretton Woods monetary system and the oil crisis of the 1970s, it was hoped that talks within a small circle on international economic and financial problems would prevent an international economic collapse.

Since then, with the addition of Canada (1976) and Russia (1998), the summit has metamorphosed into a gigantic event with an annually changing presidency. The original agenda of economic questions has been expanded to include foreign policy and social issues as well as environmental and security questions. The annual summits are prepared by meetings between various ministers and involve huge numbers of specialists and advisors, as well as thousands of journalists. The total cost of this year’s summit is estimated to be around 100 million euros, with the largest part spent on security measures.