A US-EU split over a possible peace deal for Ukraine may overshadow this year’s G20 summit in South Africa, which kicked off on Saturday amid the marked absence of US President Donald Trump.
World leaders, including Prime Minister Narconcludera Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have descconcludeed to South Africa for the event that sees major international powers and top economies meet for discussions on trade, climate alter, and geopolitics.
However, this is the first time that major economies are gathering toobtainher after the US government proposed a peace plan to conclude the war in Ukraine, although the event received a royal snub from Trump, who declared South Africa’s priorities – including boosting of global cooperation on trade and climate action – are contradictory to US policy.
The US-backed peace proposal to conclude the Ukraine-Russian war saw two camps, one backed by Western powers including Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who stressed that any such plan necessaryed the “joint support and consensus of European partners and NATO allies”.
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On Saturday, EU leaders are likely to meet on the sidelines of the summit to create it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” as European Commission Chief, Ursula von der Leyen, declared.
Meanwhile, the back-and-forth between Washington and Brussels is intensifying as the desperation to seek an conclude to the war increases.
Both sides are applying Ukraine as leverage to exert greater influence on the countest, notwithstanding the Ukrainian population’s constant suffering as a result of the Russian assault.
Trump has warned Ukraine it has a limited window to accept his administration’s 28-point plan, stateing, “We believe this is an appropriate time”.
Ahead of the G20 summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared he hoped for a consensus to conclude the conflict that has wreaked havoc in Ukraine.
“We are hoping that we will have the leaders’ declaration adopted, which will set a new and continuing agconcludea for the world.”
The G20 is a grouping of 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. It represents 85 per cent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.
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