On 26-27 May, the representatives of the European Union, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, attended the high-level meeting of G7 leaders – this year, the summit focused on the global economy, foreign policy and the migration and refugee crisis. The group of the world’s most influential players paid a special attention to the migration crisis, calling for a global response to tackle both its root causes and the consequences.
G7 leaders committed themselves to increase global assistance to meet the needs of refugees and their host communities. They also called on financial institutions and bilateral donors to step up their assistance and agreed to enhance legal channels for migration and encouraged the establishment of resettlement schemes. The G7 also addressed the rise of violent extremism and related challenges that pose a major threat to the international order. The group therefore reiterated its special responsibility to lead major international efforts to deal with these challenges. Leaders also focused on the situation in Ukraine and called for the full implementation of the Minsk Accords. They reminded that the duration of the existing sanctions against Russia are still tied to Moscow’s complete implementation of the agreements.
On the margins of the summit, the EU and French, German, Italian and UK leaders and their Japanese counterparts signed a statement on the Japan-EU economic partnership. They encouraged further necessary efforts to move forward on the Japan-EU economic partnership agreement (EPA), a framework deal covering not only political dialogue and policy cooperation, but also cooperation on regional and global challenges, and free trade agreement (FTA), to stimulate growth on both sides. The EPA should strengthen the cooperation at all levels up to the EU-Japan Summit meetings, covering foreign policy, economic and trade relations, and regional and global challenges.
