THE LEADERS of the world's seven most industrialised nations gather in the French city of Lyons later today for two days of discussion on the world's economic and political problems.
The G7 group is a rich states' club, but this time its host, President Chirac, wants the summit to be about more than the world's most powerful nations ensuring they remain the dominant forces. "I want one of the main results of this meeting of the G7 to be a major advance on aid to the developing countries," he told the EU summit in Florence last weekend.
The leaders from the US, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Italy and Britain begin their annual meeting with a dinner tonight. Tomorrow, they meet in formal session throughout the day, and will be joined for a period by the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin.
While the annual get together is driven by discussion on the world's economy, it is also an opportunity for the leaders to discuss global political issues.
European leaders are likely to express their annoyance to President Clinton over his administration's announcement that it will veto Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali who is seeking a second term as UN Secretary General. France in particular is a supporter of Dr Ghali, but senior German and Italian politicians at the Florence summit also privately expressed anger at the fact that the US made its announcement without consulting European leaders.
They may discuss the suggestion from Dr Ghali, supported by many EU states, that he be given a two and a half year extension as a compromise. There is also the prospect of a tentative discussion of alternative candidates. Officials from a number of EU states said at the Florence summit that there would be considerable European support for any suggestion that the President, Mrs Robinson, get the job. US sources say, however, that they are looking for someone with much more administrative experience.
Dr Ghali himself will be there, ensuring the issue is bound to be discussed on the summit margins. Mr Chirac has said he is determined to keep the issue off the summit agenda.
With 23 million out of work throughout the G7, four million who have abandoned looking for work and 15 million working part time because they cannot find full time jobs, unemployment will be a major issue.
An ideological gap separates the US from European thinking on the subject. US growth stands at 2.3 per cent, unemployment at 5.6 per cent and the budget deficit at 2 per cent of GDP, one of the lowest of the major industrial countries.
Europeans maintain that much of the US's success at tackling unemployment is due to the creation of "McJobs" - low paid work with no security. "I think this is the usual story," a senior European Commission official was quoted as saying this week. "The US creates more jobs but has more inequality, whereas we have more equality but less jobs."
Some 180 trade unions and lobby groups have announced plans for big protests and a counter summit" to focus attention on unemployment and poverty.
In an interview yesterday Mr Chirac criticised the US for not doing enough to help the Third World: "The current trend is for major nations, particularly the United States, to pull out. This is unacceptable." The French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, has said that while France and Japan gave the biggest slice of development aid, the US was donating an ever smaller share of its gross domestic product to aid each year.
Mr Chirac is pushing for a package to help ease the debt burden of the world's poorest countries, mostly in sub Saharan Africa. In some cases debt servicing absorbs almost all of these countries' GNPs, making economic growth impossible.
The proposal is that those who are owed money - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the so called Paris Club of creditor nations - would act together to reduce Third World debt. However one element of the package - the sale of gold by the IMF to partly fund the scheme - is opposed by the German Bundesbank which believes it would weaken the IMF.