By
N. Peter Kramer
US President Donald Trump cancelled his trip to ‘Davos’ because the US government is partially closed for business, thanks to the House Democrats of Nancy Pelosi which refuse to finance Trump’s Mexican wall.
British Prime Minister Theresa May skipped ‘Davos’, so she can manage Brexit. French President Macron opted to stick in Paris, to avoid to frustrate even more the Yellow Vests accusing him for exclusive favouring the rich in France. Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinpeng won’t be in attendance as well. It seems these two don’t see a trip to Davos as a useful one.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who just signed a contract for closer cooperation with Macron’s France, is in Davos. Other interesting EU leaders present are right-wing Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his Italian populist counterpart Giuseppe Conti.
But the most anticipated appearance may be that of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is not even a full month in function. He will may well fly a Trumpist flag in Davos. He is a climate change sceptic and rode to power on an ultranationalist campaign.
One central focus of this week’s gathering in Davos is climate change, but the world has backed away from collective action. With the economy slowing down, many countries can’t reach the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement.
For instance, it was a fuel tax hike intended to combat climate change that precipitated the protests in France. Germany struggles with Merkel’s decision to stop the use of nuclear energy and must fall back on fossil fuels including the environmental very unfriendly brown coal.
Income inequality is another focus of the ‘titans’ who fly to Davos on their private jets. But it keeps getting worse. Oxfam published a report on Sunday, to coincide with the start of ‘Davos’, that shows billionaires got 12% richer last year, while the 3.8 billion people who makes up the world’s poorest half saw their wealth decline by 11%.
Rising fears about the state of the world’s biggest economies are likely to preoccupy the Davos crowd.
China reported that its economy expanded by ‘only’ 6.6% last year, a figure that would be good for almost all countries in the world (except India!) but represents the slowest growth for China in 28 years. Meanwhile the IMF downgraded its expectations for the global economy, highlighting sharp declines in EU memberstates.
