Brussels, 10/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - High-ranking European Commission officials announced on Monday that they were confident that the leaders of the G8 countries (the seven most industrialised countries plus Russia) will agree on a series of basic principles, at the St Petersburg Summit, from 15 to 17 July. In the future, these principles will “guide” relations between the main economic powers of the world in the field of energy. Energy security will be one of the three main subjects on the agenda of this first G8 Summit to be organised by Russia, alongside education and the problem of infectious diseases. “Even if the member countries of the G8 do not occupy identical positions within the energy chain (Russia's situation is quite specific, as the Number One producer of energy), we still hope that the final declaration of the Summit will list a raft of clear basic principles to guide our future relationship in the field of energy security”, explained the high-level civil servants directly involved in preparations for the Summit. Among these principles, the EU sets particular store by market transparency and the openness of networks and respect for market-based rules of functioning. Under the energy chapter, the leaders will also deal with the link between energy policy and climate change (the EU's ambition is for the leaders at least to reiterate the commitments they subscribed to at the previous Summit of the Group of Eight, held in Gleneagles in July 2005), the diversification of energy resources and energy efficiency.
Infectious diseases. Even though the risk of a pandemic of the virus H5N1 has fallen over recent months, the EU fully supports Russia's decision to have made this one of the three major subjects of the Summit, “because this is a problem, just like that of other infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, which cannot be dealt with nationally or regionally, but which must be tackled on a global scale”. The draft declaration prepared by the “sherpas” for their bosses is “European Union friendly”, in that it refers to principles on future cooperation in this field which are the same or similar to EU policy. The draft text also mentions the principle of “prior consultation”, which aims to prevent the taking of radical measures (on border management or trade flows, for example) without the prior consultation of the countries in question.
Education. This will be the first time that the G8 leaders have raised the issue of education. “We welcome this, because as far as the European Union is concerned, education- together with research and innovation- is part of a triangle which we believe is indispensable if we are to improve our economic competitiveness. Education is also linked to the issue of immigration and may help to facilitate integration and intercultural dialogue (…). We are extremely pleased to see that our G8 partners share this point of view”, explained the Commission staff.
The President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, will be taking part in the Summit, as will Matti Vanhanen, the Finnish Prime Minister and current President of the European Council. In total, the G8 leaders are set to adopt some twelve different declarations: on the three main subjects (energy security, education, infectious diseases), but also on subjects such as non-proliferation (under which subject heading the Iranian nuclear issue and current tensions with North Korea are extremely likely to be brought up), the fight against terrorism, Africa and possibly trade. The Doha Round is also highly likely to be discussed on the sidelines of the Summit, but not at the formal session.