The leaders of the G-8 industrialized countries will meet June 1-3 in Evian, France for their annual Economic Summit. What distinguishes this from past meetings is the sharp disagreement by four of the participants -- President Jacques Chirac of France (the host at Evian), President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada – with President George Bush’s decision to remove Saddam by force.  Consequently, American relations with all four leaders have deteriorated significantly, with President Chirac facing the sharpest wrath of the Bush Administration.

Even without the Iraq cloud, most of the participants probably would just as soon skip the event. Since the first Economic Summit in 1975, ritual has increasingly overtaken substance. Summit declarations, laboriously negotiated in advance by subordinates, are long on rhetoric and short on lasting action. In fact, G-8 Finance and Foreign Ministers

have already discussed in detail the main issues on the Evian agenda -- the global economy, terrorism, Iraq, North Korea, weapons of mass destruction and regional issues. Regrettably, G-8 leaders are likely to add little of substance or direction on these subjects.

It would, however, be a mistake to yield to the temptation to muddle through Evian with minimum courtesy and dialogue. Evian is arguably the most important G-8 meeting in recent times precisely because the leaders have such discordant views on how to manage global affairs. Until they can reach a common understanding on a desired course for the global ship of state, no real progress can be made on important issues such as the necessary conditions for creating jobs globally, the Doha Development Round, terrorism, Middle East peace, North Korea and economic and political reform in Africa.

In fact, Evian is potentially an inflection point in the history of G-8 summits. If the leaders cannot surmount intense policy and personal differences over Iraq, or worse are unwilling to make the effort, the G-8 process may collapse – at least at the level of the leaders. However, if the leaders decide to talk openly among themselves about what divides them in order to find common ground on global issues that can only be tackled jointly, there is hope the G-8 process can be revitalized and even strengthened. Several procedural steps might facilitate this. 

First, President Chirac and his G-8 colleagues should agree to put aside the formal agenda and the prepared communiqués. Assuming the leaders have confidence in their ministers, the conclusions of Foreign and Finance ministers can stand on their own.

Second, President Chirac could convene his guests in private, without aides or note takers, for a frank discussion of how differences over Iraq have resulted in the most serious fissures in recent memory in the transatlantic relationship, a relationship that covers political, security and economic interests vital to all the participants. Any expressions of “mea culpa”, “I told you so” or “If only I could wind back the clock” by the eight most powerful world leaders are best made in strictest privacy.

Should it be possible to clear the G-8 air so that it becomes as invigorating as Evian’s fabled waters, leaders might then be able to focus on pressing issues whose resolution requires full trust and collaboration among the G-8. The global economy today, with the looming menace of deflation, merits the same attention from G-8 leaders as when French President Giscard d’Estaing hosted the first Economic Summit in 1975 to discuss, informally and without aides, the grave state of the world economy as a result of the sharp increase in crude oil prices. Evian could be the time and place to restore the necessary trust and confidence among G-8 leaders.

This is certainly not the time for a canned and insincere Evian Communiqué. Rather, business leaders, concerned citizens and the media would welcome -- and probably find convincing – a concise statement that the leaders discussed frankly what has divided them, acknowledged they share common objectives to promote global economic growth while enhancing global security, and that they resolved to work together to achieve these goals. With such a declaration, even Americans might be willing to toast the G-8 with a glass of Evian.

 

Eric D.K. Melby, a senior associate at the Forum for International Policy, handled international economic issues on the National Security Council staff in 1987-1993.