Group of Seven

AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

While Britain and America remain friends, European nations must rely more on themselves, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a rally of voters in Munich. She said she got this feeling after meeting world leaders at the recently concluded G7 summit in Italy.

Europe "must take its fate into its own hands" faced with a western alliance divided by Brexit and Donald Trump's presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday, reported AFP.

"The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I've experienced that in the last few days," Merkel told a crowd at an election rally in Munich, southern Germany.

German leader Angela Merkel said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump's G7 partners remained in the dark about his intentions on climate change, calling the debate at a summit in Sicily "very unsatisfactory".

Under pressure from allies, U.S. President Donald Trump backed a pledge to fight protectionism on May 27, but refused to endorse a global climate change accord, saying he needed more time to decide.

Not for the first time in recent years, Greece's fate is being decided outside of its borders. Representatives of the country's lenders, in the formation known as the Washington Group, met at the sidelines of the G7 summit in Bari, Italy, to discuss debt relief. The next milestone in this crucial discussion will be at the May 22 Eurogroup in Brussels.

German Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has confirmed that the issue of Greece was discussed on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers in the Italian city of Bari.

"I expect a solution," Schaeuble said on Friday.
 

The US government has aligned with the position of the IMF on the Greek problem, believing a solution must be reached regarding the debt issue, according Michalis Ignatiou. Greece will be on the agenda of talks at the G7 Summit to take place in Bari, Italy on May 11 and 13.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has cancelled a scheduled visit to Moscow next week, his office announced on April 8, saying "developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally".

Russia has announced its intention to permanently walk away from the G8 group of industrialised nations – more than two years after it was kicked out over the illegal annexation of Crimea.

President of the European Council Donald Tusk called on Eurozone Finance Ministers to closed a deal with Greece as soon as possible, during his joint press conference with Japanese PM Shino Abe, and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker. ‘I hope that until the end of May, when the G7 Summit meets, the implementation of the Greek program will have a positive review.