G7 summit kicks off in Italy

The gathering is just kicked off a short while ago with Georgia Maloney welcoming in all the different heads of state and government and the head of the European Commission, Ursula van der La. And they're now gathering round a meeting table. And pretty much top of the agenda will be climate change, but then it will be the wars in Gaza and also Ukraine. And as you've rightly said, this summit is going to get a visit by the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky. If there's going to be one agreement here at the G7, think what all the leaders are hoping it's going to be is the one to give at least $50 billion worth of money to the Ukrainians to get them back on track in trying to fight off Russian aggression in Ukraine. Now, that money is going to be paid for out of $300 billion worth of frozen assets in the United States and in the European Union. There have been discussions before this summit began on how that is going to be worked out. There's still one or two little problems that need to be solved. But think most of the delegates here are pretty optimistic that by the end of this summit, that's to say on Saturday, there will be a full agreement on handing over that money to Ukraine by the end of 2024. So think if there's going to be one agreement that all the leaders are looking forward to, it is that one. And the other point about that is that it's also destined to try to show that there is unity amongst the world community in the face of this Russian aggression. And President Biden, before he arrived at the summit, was saying that Vladimir Putin is going to have to look forward to many more sanctions being placed on Russia. I think with an eye to the fact that this $50 billion that will be earmarked for Ukraine is going to boost the Ukrainian war effort in fighting off Russian aggression. Philip, this event will no doubt see Georgia Maloney bask in the limelight. She's one of the few leaders at the G7, one of the few G7 leaders to to, you know, come out stronger domestically in the given what we saw happen in the European parliamentary vote on Sunday. Well, if you look at how Georgia Maloney has been behaving over the past, you can see she's having a field day. She was beaming with smiles, welcoming in all the world leaders, giggling with them, even taking selfies herself and almost dancing on the podium as they all came up and greeted her. And then they had a family photo of all the G7 leaders with Georgia Maloney in the middle. So there's no doubt about the fact that she certainly has been galvanised by the increase in support for her Brothers in Italy party during the European elections last weekend. But that's not the same, unfortunately for the other leaders from the European Union who are present. The German Chancellor Olof Schultz has seen his party coming in 3rd, knocked out by Afd. The far right party in Italy, Emmanuel Macron of France, has dissolved the National Assembly after a strong showing by the National Rally, doubling its score against his candidate in the European elections. There's lots of uncertainty about what's going to happen in France within the next three weeks. Also problems for Joe Biden, who is struggling in the opinion polls face to face with Donald Trump, who risks being reelected in the United States this November. So a lot for these leaders to have to worry about back home as well as what is going on here at the G7 summit with all these very crucial issues over global warming, biodiversity, as we were talking before the war in Ukraine and also in Gaza. So this is going to be a very tough summit I think for them and a lot of worry I think all round about just where all of this is going to end up in the long run.