Over Hamburg yesterday the sun was shining, but Angela Merkel was in the shade. The summit will end in the second half of the day on Saturday, but nothing good hostess, Federal Chancellor of Germany, he promises.
The summit takes place in the highly undesirable situation of violent clashes between police and demonstrators.
Besides, the negotiations were to some extent undermined by the fact that the US President trump and the Russian President Putin to hold a bilateral meeting, partially missed the discussion about the policy climate, which is so important for Merkel.
The attention attracted two of the aforementioned leader, and reports about street fighting, for sure, exhausted Merkel, but she remained Saturday in order to ensure tangible results. After meetings on Friday, she admitted that much remains to be done.
Meeting trump and Putin lasted more than two hours, much longer than had been anticipated in advance. And this means that they liked each other, or at least, they found the fellowship useful.
Specific results
The first briefing after the meeting created the impression of what was achieved more or less concrete results: US and Russia will take care of a new ceasefire in certain areas of Syria. They will work more closely to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and the fight against cyberterrorism.
In the coming days we will have a clearer picture of how trump and Putin versed in the bilateral relationship, and what they have agreed. Most interesting, perhaps, is that the U.S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson told the press that the two presidents “there was an obvious positive chemistry.”
It’s a good news for the world or bad depends on the details, and from what angle to consider. If two such people as Putin and trump will make friends, it will not please everyone.
A real headache for Merkel
Merkel is also concerned about the problem much more urgent. Clashes between police and demonstrators — not news in connection with summits of this kind, but that’s why the German police would have enough material to develop a successful strategy.
In truth, among the usually peaceful demonstrators in Hamburg proved to be an unusually high number of activists with ill intentions, but there is also no doubt that the aggressive behavior of the police, where there was no need, contributed to the fact that in some parts of the city, a situation resembling a civil war.
It was so bad that politically, it could hurt Merkel at home and abroad. In spite of that the primary responsibility for security at the summit lies on it.
The autocrats for the joy
The fact that one of the most organized and having the greatest potential democracies in the world may not be flexible enough to resolve the issue with the protesters, already says something. Such autocrats like Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are quite smile. After all, they are constantly criticized for the fact that they too cruelly with the opposition.
Furthermore, it is still little sign that the summit will bring some tangible political results. No matter what, “twenty” is not body taking any binding decisions, but the hostess Merkel was ambitious: she wanted the meeting gave a clear signal in several policy areas, in particular, on climate change.
The US is more important than Germany
Most Federal Chancellor, I would like to combine 19 of the 20 countries at the summit for a General and more active contribution to solving climate problems to, thus, put US in a shameful corner after trump brought the country out of the Paris agreements.
But Merkel has found that many countries did not want to stake the relations with the US such clear demonstrations.
Although trump is trump, and Merkel is Merkel, the USA is still much more important than Germany. So the question remains: will it be possible for an experienced Chancellor, however, to make something concrete in the final document of the summit.
