40Th G7 Summit

It was originally scheduled to be held as the “40th G8 summit” and be hosted by Russia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. However, the other seven countries decided on 24 March that the summit would be instead held without Russia in Brussels.

40th G7 summit
Host country	European Union (Belgium)
Date	4–5 June 2014
Cities	Brussels (originally Sochi)
Participants	Canada  France  Germany  Italy  Japan  United Kingdom  United States  European Union
Follows	39th G8 summit
Precedes	41st G7 summit
Website	www.european-council.europa.eu/g7brussels

Following the 2014 Crimean crisis and the accompanying Russian intervention in Ukraine, there was talk of suspending or expelling Russia from the G8. On 24 March, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the meeting would not take place in Russia due to the Crimean crisis.

The G8 is an unofficial forum which brings together the heads of major world powers: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, Canada (all since 1976), the EU Commission (since 1981), and Russia (from 1997 until March 2014). When the seven founding countries decided to hold the 40th such meeting without Russia, it became the “40th G7 summit”.

 

The attendees included the leaders of the seven G7 member states, as well as representatives of the European Union. The President of the European Commission is a permanently welcome participant in all meetings and decision-making since 1981.

The 40th G7 summit was the first summit for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Participants

Core G7 members Host state and leader are shown in bold text.
Member		Represented by	Title
	Canada	Stephen Harper	Prime Minister
	France	François Hollande	President
	Germany	Angela Merkel	Chancellor
	Italy	Matteo Renzi	Prime Minister
	Japan	Shinzō Abe	Prime Minister
	United Kingdom	David Cameron	Prime Minister
	United States	Barack Obama	President
	European Union	José Manuel Barroso	Commission President
		Herman Van Rompuy	Council President

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda. Presidential Executive Office Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov was the chairman of the organizational committee on preparation for Russia's G8 presidency. The leaders were expected to focus on responses to new global threats during the next G8 summit.^{[citation needed]} The infrastructure of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi was planned to be used to host the G8 summit. No additional pre-summit costs were budgeted.^{[citation needed]}

Following the Crimean events in March 2014, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States as well as the President of the European Council and President of the European Commission held an extraordinary G7 summit in The Hague and suspended their participation in preparatory meetings for the G8. In a statement, the leaders of the G7 countries stated that Russia's occupation of the Crimea was against the principles of the G7 and contravened the United Nations Charter and its 1997 basing agreement with Ukraine.

•  
    Canada
  Stephen Harper,
  Prime Minister
•  
    France
  François Hollande, President
•  
    Germany
  Angela Merkel, Chancellor
•  
    Italy
  Matteo Renzi,
  Prime Minister
•  
    Japan
  Shinzō Abe,
  Prime Minister
•  
    United Kingdom
  David Cameron,
  Prime Minister
•  
    United States
  Barack Obama, President
•  
    European Union
  Herman Van Rompuy, Council President
•  
    European Union
  José Manuel Barroso, Commission President

• List of G7 summits
• List of G20 summits