Germany And France Argue That The G20 Declaration Must Mention The “War” In Ukraine.
After rumors that the host India sought to avoid using the term “war,” Germany and France urged on Friday that any joint statement from the current G20 finance ministers conference must refer to the Ukraine.
India is in a difficult situation since it has hesitated to denounce the invasion of Ukraine by its top armaments supplier, Russia, during its year-long leadership of the Group of 20.
According to media sources, India wished to avoid using the term “war” in any closing remarks from the finance ministers and central bankers conference that concludes on Saturday in Bengaluru.
Despite being a G20 member, Russia does not send a ministerial-level representative to the summit. But, Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to attend a G20 foreign ministers gathering in New Delhi the following week.
“For a year, we have watched as Russia initiated this terrible conflict in Ukraine. We need complete transparency, particularly on a day like today and at a gathering like the G20, said German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, referring to the anniversary of the February 24 invasion.
This is a battle. Also, Russia and (President) Vladimir Putin are the cause of this conflict. In this G20 finance summit, that has to be made very clear, Lindner said at a press conference.
If the wording from a leaders’ statement at a G20 conference in Indonesia in November—which Putin did not attend—was softened, he said, it would be “unacceptable for Germany.”
In the Bali-issued proclamation, it was said that “most members vehemently rejected the war.”
Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, echoed Lindner when he said that Paris “would resist any step back from the declaration of the leaders in Bali on this matter of the conflict in Ukraine.”
Le Maire said at a press conference that “we completely trust India to achieve a robust communiqué.”
The summit in Bengaluru is more likely to fail to produce a common statement because to the apparent impasse than other sessions since Russia’s invasion.
Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s finance minister, told reporters that addressing security problems was necessary before tackling other pressing issues like combating poverty and climate change.
