Messages from Camp David

Participants of G8 Summit that took place last week in Camp David agreed that economic growth and employment should become their main priority. The host, President Barack Obama, said that the G8 leaders made great progress in creating new jobs.

The final press release stated: “We are determined to take all necessary measures to strengthen and restore economies, to fight financial difficulties, recognizing that such measures do not always have to be identical for each country.” In fact, setting the tone for the summit, Obama actually joined the proposal of the French President Francois Hollande, who prefers stimulating measures for economic growth as opposed to strict measures of hard economy, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been able to impose on Europe up until now. Thus, the only lady among the eight leaders was in isolation.

At the same time, the American president tried to balance positions of the “Merhollande” duet. On the one hand, according to some sources, the head of the White House told his partners: “We need a program for growth, which would also support fiscal discipline.” As a result, on May 19 Obama announced that the participants decided to adopt a program of growth and stability and fiscal consolidation with appropriate measures to ensure the prosperity of their citizens.

On the other hand, the summit host once again tried to find a balance between conflicting proposals by taking a traditional group photo standing between Hollande and Merkel. By the way, in this photo Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev together with the head of the European Commission Jose Barroso stood at the end of the group. This was an excellent evidence of the influence of the both officials. Many believe that no matter what obligations Medvedev assumes, everything in Russia is, in fact, ruled by Vladimir Putin. The same is true of Barroso: in Europe everything is defined by two countries, Germany and France, and the key role in this duo has been recently played by Merkel.

The situation may change with socialist Hollande coming to the Elysee Palace. For the new French president, who is inexperienced in foreign policy, it was his first meeting with the world’s top leaders; nevertheless, he proved that he is capable of defending positions of France just as good as his predecessor. In general, the French side believes that the position defended by the president received support.

Hollande himself noted that the summit was useful and fruitful and also sent a double message of trust and growth.

The official press release mentioned one country which is quite unusual for such documents. We are talking about Greece – a lot has been said about this country, where the next elections will be held in a month. The G8 leaders stated clearly that they are in favor of preserving Greece in the eurozone. The President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy for his part added: “We will do everything necessary to guarantee financial stability in the eurozone.”

Indeed, as was predicted by some experts, Obama will not suggest any financial assistance to Europe, and the Old Continent will have to overcome the crisis and make order in their own financial house.

The head of the White House in his speech before the mass media who watched the Summit near Camp David said that the economic growth in Europe is very important for America. According to him, deteriorating situation for businesses in Spain will be felt in the United States. Thinking back to the time when his administration was making order in their financial home he advised to do the same and to implement reforms, besides the countries in Europe should discharge their obligations.

The US media are quite skeptical about the results of the summit held in Camp David. The most prevailing opinion is that there was no significant breakthrough achieved even though the participants tried to show some results.

On the other hand, it is clear that Obama is trying to use this forum to show himself as an influential leader and somehow to improve his chances for reelection. In this regard, the choice of Chicago as a site for holding economic and security summits is probably not a coincidence. This is Obama’s hometown, his house is located there. Even though the G8 Summit did not take place in Chicago (due to Putin’s refusal to take part in the NATO Summit Obama moved the G8 Summit to Camp David so that Russian president could take part in Economic Forum), attention of the whole world was drawn to the third largest city in the US whose popularity has increased. However, it happened after anti-NATO protests. Apparently, the Democratic candidate hopes that the city and the state will support him during the presidential elections. Another G20 Summit with Obama taking part will be held in a month in Mexico and it is expected that there the American president finally meets his Russian new-old counterpart.

It is interesting who will Obama appease there and between whom will he try to find balance. Another question remains whether being the head of the abovementioned meetings of the world’s top leaders will be helpful for him in any way because this is not among the priority issues for the American people. We all know the example of France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose track record includes many successful meetings under French presidency of the EU and G8 summits.