The Chancellor also hopes that the summit will give the Western Balkan countries a boost, which have been waiting for EU membership for nearly two decades. “We have to show the Western Balkan countries that we are serious. Albania and North Macedonia meet all the requirements to start concrete negotiations on EU accession – they have to start now.”

G7 summit to strengthen cooperation between democracies

The EU summit is the start of a series of three summits in the space of a week. G7 and NATO meetings followed. Germany holds the presidency of the “Group of Seven”, which brings together economically strong democracies. Scholz hosted the summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.

He wanted to focus on strengthening cooperation between democracies around the world. “It would be a particular success if the summit could be the starting point for a new worldview of democracy,” Scholz said in an interview with DPA. An understanding of democracy does not go far enough to concentrate on the classical West, namely the “Group of Seven” countries. In addition to Germany, it includes the United States, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan.

“We have to look around the world”

“The big and strong democracies of the future are in Asia, Africa and South America and will be our partners,” said Scholz, who is hosting the G7 summit from June 26-28. “We have to look around the world and not just reduce our view of Europe, North America and Japan.” Therefore, he deliberately invited five guests: the heads of state and government of Indonesia, India, South Africa, Senegal, and Argentina.

In 30 years the world will have more powerhouses than today. “If we succeed in getting the world to work together and democracy to play a central role, it will be a big step forward,” said the Chancellor. Germany has held the rotating presidency of the economically powerful group of democracies this year.