The refusal of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to take part in the in-person G7 summit in June due to the situation with the coronavirus has a political rather than personal implication, Elena Panina, a member of the State Duma committee on international affairs, told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, Merkel did not agree to face-to-face participation in the G7 summit, which was proposed by the US president and summit organizer Donald Trump, the Politico newspaper reported with reference to the German government.
“It was wrong to reduce everything to a personal relationship between Trump and Merkel, we are talking about a deep conflict of interests between the two states. Absolutely everything that the United States did and what they forced Germany to, be it the question of” Crimean “sanctions against the Russian Federation,” Nord Stream 2 “The sanctions against Iran, on relations with China, went against the economic interests of Berlin. It is simply amazing that the demarche that Merkel carried out did not take place earlier,” Panina said.
According to the deputy, the reason that made Merkel take an unprecedented step for German diplomacy is the global economic and political crisis that has begun, a sharp decrease in American influence, which manifests itself, in particular, in the conflict with China.
“Under these conditions, when the international situation is deteriorating every day, it would be irrational to follow the geopolitical” lame duck “. In Berlin, and not only, apparently, they realized this fact,” Panina concluded.