They mingled cordially and dined on Scottish salmon, and not a single person stormed out of the dinner of world leaders at the British prime minister’s home late Wednesday.
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In fact, the place cards even seated President Barack Obama next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who just a few hours earlier had derided the American plan to rescue the global economy.
So it was a fitting opening to the Group of 20 economic summit: Courtesy and civility reigned even as disagreement simmered.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to walk out of the summit if his demands for global financial regulation aren’t met. And on Wednesday, Sarkozy joined Merkel in a public statement against the idea of more government spending to spur the economy, an important feature of the U.S. plan.
The two leaders have increasingly coordinated their message of greater financial regulation as a counterweight to British and American calls for more spending.
“France and Germany will speak with a single voice,” Sarkozy said.
The flip side to the Merkel-Sarkozy show was the other dynamic duo of this week’s summit: Obama and his host and ally, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who held a news conference of their own Wednesday.
Brown praised the American leadership on regulating the financial system, on recapitalizing banks and restructuring the country’s banking system. He said he thought that the leaders were “within a few hours” of agreeing on a global plan for economic recovery and reform.
“Never before has the world come together in this way to deal with an economic crisis,” Brown said. As for Sarkozy’s threat, Brown said he was sure things would work out.
“I’m confident that President Sarkozy will not only be here for the first course of our dinner,” he said, “but will still be sitting as we complete our dinner this evening.” Obama also downplayed the differences, calling them “vastly overstated.”
“The truth of the matter is that I think there has been an extraordinary convergence,” Obama said.
But analysts pointed out that the philosophical differences are real.
“There have long been differences between Germany, France and Britain about classic roaring Anglo-Saxon capitalism as practiced in New York and London,” said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. “I suspect that the German and French governments see this as a once-and-for-all opportunity perhaps to tame the excesses of Anglo-Saxon market-driven economics.”
At their joint appearance, Sarkozy and Merkel dug in further on their view that the summit needs to produce concrete measures for international regulation of the finance sector, not new fiscal stimulus packages.
“This has nothing to do with ego; this has nothing to do with temper tantrums,” said the French leader, whom critics accuse of indulging in both. “This has to do with whether we’re going to be up to the challenges ahead or not.”
Meanwhile, Merkel pointed out that both the U.S. and Europe have put in place major stimulus packages, arguing they ought to be given a chance to work before adding more.
Travers said that the split between Brown and Obama on the one hand and Merkel and Sarkozy on the other is informed by domestic as well as international politics.
Sarkozy’s popularity has plummeted at home, and Merkel faces elections this fall; both have a need to be seen representing their countries’ viewpoints at the summit without playing the spoiler.
“It would be surprising if there were any grand walkouts or refusal[s] to sign things,” Travers said.
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The G-20, viewed from Chicago
Read what Tribune foreign editors are reading on the Web, including analysis of the G-20 summit from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs: chicagotribune.com/globalreads