German ministers decline Washington G7 summit invite: Der Spiegel
July 9, 2020
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s finance and foreign ministers declined an invitation to take part in a Washington gathering of ministers from the G7 group of large industrial countries, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Thursday.
According to the magazine, Germany told the U.S. government that it would send state secretaries to the mini-summit, planned for July 29, instead of Olaf Scholz and Heiko Maas. The magazine said other G7 countries had taken a similar decision.
Earlier, it was reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel had declined to take part in a national leaders’ level meeting in Washington, in what was widely interpreted as a snub to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Finance and Foreign Ministries declined to comment on the report.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, Andreas Rinke and Christian Kraemer; Editing by Caroline Copley and Maria Sheahan)