European leaders braced for tensions at G20 in India

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Good morning from New Delhi. Gloomy news to start: the euro is on course for an eighth straight week of decline against the dollar as Europe’s economy continues to falter.

Here in India, (almost) all the world’s most powerful leaders are assembling for this year’s G20 summit. But a forum designed to find co-ordinated approaches is instead likely to be a battleground of opposing ideas, as I explain below.

Also, our Athens correspondent takes a look at devastating floods that have hit Greece following more than two weeks of raging wildfires, messing the political calendar.

Have a good weekend.

(Barely) talking shop

All is not well at the high table of global governance. When Europe’s top leaders convene at the G20 summit tomorrow morning, there will be a distinct level of tension in the air.

Context: Russia’s war against Ukraine and the US-China rivalry have deeply divided the G20, largely between western states and the global south. There is no consensus on critical issues such as climate change. Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping (for the first time ever) are not attending.

The G20 was founded to find a co-ordinated, global solution to the 2008 financial crisis. Europe — which has five seats around the table and two additional permanent guest slots — saw it as a useful body to push its international agenda and nudge big developing countries like India and Brazil towards its position on critical issues such as health and trade.

The US is coming to India’s capital with a pitch to provide more financing to poorer countries, and the EU wants to give them more say over how global lenders such as the World Bank are run.

That may help ease some of the friction, but it’s likely this weekend will be notable for deep divisions — and a reminder that globally, Europe and its allies are distinctly in the minority.

“It’s quite a lesson for us,” said one European diplomat. “We enjoy the G7 and get this feeling that everyone agrees with us. And then we come to the G20 and it’s brutally clear that’s really not the case.”

The two key topics for the west — a co-ordinated approach to climate change and a principled stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — are those where consensus looks least likely. It could be a long summit for the European delegations.

“What is certain is if we don’t want a bipolar world, and I don’t want a bipolar world, we need to engage even with those who do not share exactly the same assessment,” said one senior EU official who will take part in the summit. “We need to talk to them.”

Chart du jour: Fly safe

The number of fatal accidents involving EU-registered commercial planes in Europe has plummeted, with no significant accidents recorded over the past seven years, according to Eurostat. And fear not: Those that did occur were mostly with small aircraft or helicopters, dirigibles and hot air balloons.

Biblical conditions

Extreme rainfall has led to the death of at least six people after storm Daniel swept across central Greece over the past days, washing away infrastructure, destroying properties, and leaving large areas without electricity and water, writes Eleni Varvitsioti.

Context: The floods came after wildfires burnt for more than two consecutive weeks in northeastern Greece as several regions in Europe have experienced unusually high temperatures. The Greek wildfires were the largest recorded in the EU to date, according to the EU’s Copernicus monitoring service.

The firefighting service said yesterday evening that nearly 1,800 people had been rescued, and six were reported missing. The military said it had deployed more than 25 boats to rescue people trapped by floodwaters.

“Our country finds itself, for the third day, dealing with an unprecedented phenomenon,” a government spokesperson said.

More than 100 people were airlifted, but many had to spend the day on their roofs — some asking for help via videos posted on Instagram.

At least three villages near the central Greek cities of Karditsa and Trikala were completely cut off by the floods. 

Last night, Vassilis Kikilias, minister for climate crisis and civil protection, said that rescuers would go from house to house to evacuate and rescue trapped people in the region.

The political class has also been affected by the floods. A vote on a new leader for leftist opposition party Syriza, which was due to take place on Sunday, was postponed, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis rescheduled his annual state of the economy speech to visit the flooded areas.

Mitsotakis also faces heavy criticism from the opposition over the absence of appropriate state measures to counter — or prevent — the floods before the outbreak of the storm. 

What to watch today

1. G20 leaders and officials arrive in New Delhi ahead of their two-day summit this weekend.

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