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Scotland On Sunday, 22/07/01
G8 retreats in face of Genoa rage ========================= By Francis Elliott in Genoa World leaders yesterday blinked first in their confrontation with anti-globalisation protesters, moving to stage their next summit in a remote mountain retreat amid plans to dramatically scale down the annual G8 gathering. As fresh violence swept Genoa yesterday following the death of a protester on Friday, Canada's premier Jean Chretien - host of next year's summit - signalled that it was time to return to the original formula of an "informal fireside chat". Canadian government sources say the summit, which had been sheduled to take place in the city of Ottawa, could now be held in a remote resort in the Rockies from which protesters can be easily barred. While Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush presented a defiant front in the face of two days of violence in the picturesque Italian port, Chretien joined Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi and EU Commission president Romano Prodi in demanding future gatherings be scaled down. Commission sources have spoken of problems caused the by the "vast" American entourages at recent summits, and leaders agreed that the meetings had become bloated. "I think that the summit should be changed. It is too big," said Chretien. "We are debating everything. We have to reduce the size of the delegations and have to have a more informal type of metting. There are too many people. Some countries have huge delegations that are not needed. "I have discussed with the leaders how to go back to a formula on where the concentration will be on the summit and the discussions." His move follows Friday's comments by Berlusconi, whose government has spent up to �120m hosting the Genoa summit. "The summit of the great powers should be re-thought," said Berlusconi. "This one could be the last one." EU president Romano Prodi is also thought to favour significant changes. The EU has already earmaked a dedicated "large and secure" area north of Brussels to hold its future meetings instead of rotating summits between member counties every six months. Prodi said: "It is important that we meet in small numbers. It is important that we meet in a much more simple and sober way. I think that delegations of hundreds of people are unneccessary." EU Commission sources laid the blame for the dramatic growth of the G8 meetings in recent years on the Americans. Bush is believed to have travelled to Genoa with a huge entourage including three full motor calvalcades, two of which are security decoys. Even Air Force One was accompanied by a back-up plane. As the leaders spoke, violence broke out again on the streets as protesters ransacked a petrol station in the suburbs. They then attacked police in side streets leading towards the sealed-off 'red' zone around the area where the politicians are meeting. The new disorder followed six hours of violence on Friday which culminated in a police officer shooting dead a demonstrator. Carlo Giuliani, 23, who lived in Genoa but was thought to come originally from Rome, was gunned down and then run over by a carabinieri vehicle as he was about to hurl a fire extinguisher at it. The Italian authorities are investigating possible manslaughter by the carabinieri officer. Yesterday's trouble happened just off the route of the day's main protest march, and was seemingly caused by anarchists similar to those involved in Friday's disturbances. |
