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 Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have descended to South Africa for the event that sees major international powers and top economies meet for discussions on trade, climate change, and geopolitics.
However, this is the first time that major economies are gathering together after the US government proposed a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, although the event received a royal snub from Trump, who said 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 end 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 needed 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 make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” as European Commission Chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said.
Meanwhile, the back-and-forth between Washington and Brussels is intensifying as the desperation to seek an end to the war increases.
Both sides are using Ukraine as leverage to exert greater influence on the country, 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, saying, “We think this is an appropriate time”.
Ahead of the G20 summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he hoped for a consensus to end 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 agenda 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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