A Call for Democratic, Social, and Ecological Resistance
In several days, France will host the leaders of some of the world’s most powerful countries during the G7 Summit in Évian.
Given the global context marked by conflict, economic instability, rising social inequality, an unprecedented energy crisis and the heightened climate and environmental crisis, the French presidency decided to add “reducing global macroeconomic imbalances” to the agenda. While this observation is true and the aim necessary, the assessment is incomplete.
To reduce imbalances in the global economy we must recognise where they come from; these gaps are not accidents of history. To this day, they are being created and worsened by exploitation and dependence that G7 countries have established in systems. Often without mentioning them, they perpetuate these imbalances through their current economic decisions, leading to terrible social repercussions. Évian must be a time to face head on what the word “imbalance” tends to smooth over.
However, France has ignored several major imbalances that should be on the discussion agenda.
The first being that debt is strangling the countries of the global south. Today, many countries devote more resources to repaying their debt that to health, education, food security or social protection. More generally, financial flows have reversed. Global south countries send more money to global north countries than they receive, owing to the combined effect of debt servicing, repatriation of profit and illicit capital outflows. This system deprives millions of people, and disproportionately women and girls, of the resources necessary to realise their fundamental rights and combat climate change, which they suffer the worst consequences of, despite not being responsible.
The second imbalance is extreme wealth concentration. While billions of people suffer the skyrocketing cost of living and escalating conflicts and natural disasters, the cumulative wealth of billionaires globally has hit a new peak: 18.3 trillion dollars – approximately the equivalent of the GDP of China. An increasing number of people around the world are speaking up to demand concrete measures to limit the stranglehold this small minority has on a growing portion of global wealth. This is essential to reduce social and economic divides and strengthen democracies.
The third imbalance is the obsolete international tax system which still allows multinationals and the greatest wealth holders to get around tax rules, artificially move their profits and reduce their contributions to general interest, depriving states of the income needed to reduce inequality and fund public services and climate action.
The fourth imbalance is the obscene profits made from crises. In the energy, maritime transport, agri-food and finance industries, some large multinationals are taking advantage of wars, geopolitical tensions and economic disruptions to increase profits, while hundreds of millions of people struggle to make ends meet and watch their living conditions decline before their eyes.
The fifth imbalance is the weakening of international solidarity. While it has never been so necessary in order to respond to humanitarian, social and climate emergencies, official development assistance (ODA) is suffering unprecedented attacks by global north countries. ODA dropped 23% internationally from 2024 to 2025, causing a concerning setback to collective responsibility and the principle of international solidarity.
Global imbalances are not technical, abstract concepts; they are political decisions. Behind macroeconomic indicators, lives are at stake. At the core of these imbalances are economic injustice – the way wealth is produced, distributed and used to benefit a few rather than the many. This injustice feeds social, gender-based and territorial inequality, weakens human rights and jeopardises the ecological transition.
The countries of the G7 have a unique responsibility: they represent 45% of global GDP, 30% of CO2 emissions and 69% of global ODA. Therefore, they can and must pave the way for ambitious solutions to restructure sovereign debt, bolster international tax cooperation, tax obscene profits, finance international solidarity and the response to the climate crisis, and embark upon a long-term agricultural and food transition.
France is not only the host of this summit; it has a leading role to play within major international financial institutions. This G7 presidency is not simply an official protocol, it’s an opportunity that France must take to recast the rules of the global economy to make them fairer and more inclusive, as they are too often written to benefit the strongest. However, Emmanuel Macron preferred to ensure Donald Trump’s participation in the G7 in Évian, even if it meant removing environmental and gender issues from the agenda to appease the United States President. The six other countries of the G7 must stand up to the United States to protect international law and multilateralism.
If Emmanuel Macron truly hopes to tackle global macroeconomic imbalances while chairing his final G7 summit, he cannot continue to ignore those who are at the core of the problem. Any other outlook would simply be lip service and would uphold an economic system that concentrates wealth, worsens inequality and compromises the future of billions of people, giving free rein to inequitable and authoritarian policy.
Now is no longer the time for declarations of intent. It is time for action.
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(*) Signatories:
- Perrine Benoist, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Action contre la Faim
- Gilliane Le Gallic, Chair, Alofa Tuvalu
- Gaspard Tamagny, Chair, Alternatiba
- Anne Savinel-Barras, Chair, Amnesty International France
- Virginie Amieux, Chair, CCFD-Terre Solidaire
- Adrien Chaboche, Chief Executive, Emmaus International
- Cécile Duflot, Executive Director, Oxfam France
- Morgane Créach, Chief Executive, Réseau Action Climat
- Fanny Petitbon, France Country Manager, 350