Davos 2018: Globalists against populists

The main intrigue of the 48th forum is a duel between Macron and Trump. The first personifies an open economy, the second - protectionism and nationalism. Russia in Davos was represented only by one discussion

The only discussion in Russia took place in Davos on January 24. The head of the Russian delegation, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich (in the photo second on the left), Davoc, Switzerland, January 24, 2018 Photo: WeForum.org took part in it

With a stop in Versailles

The French president arrived in the Swiss Davos, where this year a record amount of snow fell - 159 cm! -Immediately after the Business Summite Paul “Choose France” (Choose France) with the participation of 140 leaders of the largest companies in France and the rest of the world, including Toyota, Google, Facebook, Sap, Nestle and others, successfully passed on Versailles on his initiative. Macron personally phoned some top managers, persuading them to fire to him in the way in Davos.

The long -term goal of the young French leader is to make France suffering from a lack of jobs and growing unemployment, a new investment Mecca. The minimum program is to intercept those foreign investors who have already made a firm decision to leave Britain due to Brexit. One -day “Seduction of the world economic elite”, as the French Libération summit in Versailles, was quite successful: as the Champs Palace announced, the total volume of foreign investment in the France economy in the next 5 years will amount to at least € 3.5 billion, 2,200 jobs will be created. The summit in the Liberal Versail also regards the “rehearsal of the president’s 45-minute speech in Davos” ( Macron acts on January 24. -NT). Moreover, for these 45 minutes, not without pride, the newspaper clarifies , no other “parallel events” are not planned on the forum.

The embarrassment of the elites

However, the Macron’s attitude to the open globalized economy was anticipated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose performance on January 23 opened a forum, which this year is another record, in addition to the number of snow that had fallen, - gathered 70 chapters of states and governments, including almost all the leaders of the EU countries (“We have a real European summit here”, said Berge Brede, President Berge Brenda), President of the VEF BRADE), and 38 heads of international organizations. Modi , who positions himself, by the way, as a politicalist politician, criticized protectionism in trade, due to which tariffs are growing, the volume of cross-border investments falls and the development of new multilateral trade agreements is stopped.

The fact that the honor of opening the forum went to the “Modi anti-tramage”, the German Die Welt considers a remarkable detail that “again plunged the world business elite into embarrassment.” The newspaper has in mind that Modi is a politician-nationalist, while the forum slogan this year “Creation of a joint future in the fragmented world” And it sounds like an attempt to unambiguously dissolve from those who support populism and nationalism. “In the end, the global business elite gathering in Davos prefers to conduct business, not limited to the boundaries of individual states, reminds Deutsche Welle .

Davos-2018-another record, in addition to the number of snow that has fallen, gathered 70 heads of state and governments, including almost all leaders of the EU countries and 38 leaders of international organizations

Last year, the forum, in turn, recalls Die Welt , opened the chairman of the PRC Xi Jinping (this year he is not in Davos), who unexpectedly imagined himself as a leader of the free world. This caused bewilderment and indignation of many of those who listened to him. This year, the Davos tribune used the Indian premiere-nationalist, and used to warn "about the dangers of the US President’s line."

Waiting for Trump

The reasoned answer to Macron, Modi, as well as Angela Merkel and many others are called upon to give Donald Trump personally, whose performance on the forum is expected on his last day, January 26. The very fact of his presence on the forum is noteworthy: the last time the American president (Bill Clinton was) visited Davos 18 years ago, in January 2000. The slogans like “America are primarily”, which is going to promote in Davos Trump, then there was no mention. Nevertheless, Clinton, without false modesty, told the forum participants that “America positions itself as the only nation that is indispensable for the world,” and cited as an example “its gift to the people of the planet in the form of the Internet”. In this regard, Clinton then anticipated the “entry of mankind into the era of the new Renaissance”, but this, alas, did not happen ...

Trump has his own faith and his hopes. Le Figaro gives excerpts from the statement of the White House that in Davos the president "is determined to declare his political course, which aims to strengthen the position of American companies, American industry and American workers."

Emmanuel Macron has already stated that he was ready to argue with Trump, Merkel that he was ready to "help Macron." But outside the walls of the forum there were many who prefer specific promotions to disputes. First of all, this applies to Swiss politicians.

Thus, the youth departments of the parties of socialists, the “green” and a number of left -wing movements of Switzerland on the eve of the opening of the forum announced the creation of the “Committee against Trumpism” (“Comité Contre Le Trumpisme” and the intention to hold a protest against Donald Trump directly in Davos. The local authorities, in principle, did not mind, but at the last moment a huge amount of snow fell, and Davos’s municipal advice said “no” - they say, not before that now. And this caused even greater anger. “This is outrageous,” the young socialist Tamara Funicello told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps . “They have money to display snow for rich participants in the WEF, but not in order for the civilian population to take advantage of their right to freedom of speech and manifestations.”

Thus, the youth departments of the parties of socialists, the “green” and a number of left -wing movements of Switzerland on the eve of the opening of the forum announced the creation of the “Committee against Trumpism” (“Comité Contre Le Trumpisme”) and the intention to carry out a protest against Donald Trump directly in Davos.

Nevertheless, in many cities of Switzerland, they have already passed, or there will be demonstrations against the arrival of Trump to the country. In one of the leaflets calling for citizens to reach a rally of protest, the American president appears as an “enemy of humanity”, “one who wants to lower taxes rich and increase the poor”, as well as “a man who despises women”.

True, Der Bild , the most popular newspaper of Germany, predicted that Trump would not come to Davos. According to the newspaper, when “America is paralyzed, 850 thousand officials were sent on a forced vacation, there is no money for social payments, and NASA stops working,” the president should not be up to travel. But the prediction did not come true - on January 25, Trump arrived in Davos.

Russia is almost not visible

The European press practically does not notice Russia as a participant in Davos this year, despite the fact that the Russian Federation is devoted to the whole panel, and several dozen representatives registered in the list of business participants, and each of them paid 45 thousand Swiss francs for the right to unhindered passage to the Palace of Congresses ( personal invitations and owners of personal invitations participate in the forum. free.

The Russian delegation at the 48th World Economic Forum in Davos was headed by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich Photo: www.weforum.org

Among the registers: Oleg Deripaska (Rusal), Andrei Kostin (VTB), Anatoly Chubais (Rusnano), Arkady Volozh (Yandex), Evgeny Kaspersky (Kaspersky Laboratory), Alexei Mordashov (Severstal), German Gref (Sberbank), Sergey Gorky Gorky Gorky (Vnesheconombank), Vladimir Yevtushenkov (“System”), Alisher Usmanov (USM), Vagit Alekperov (“Lukoil”), Vladimir Lisin (NLMK) - only 56 people. This is one of the largest business communities in Davos (for comparison: France is represented by 52 vips, China-62).

However, a modest Russian place on the forum in the Swiss Alps is understandable if you recall that in the opening of Davos 2018 published on the eve of the opening of Davos 2018, the rating of the American magazine US News & World Report 2018 Russia in the Openness for Business scale scored zero points.

Davos in numbers

5000 * Swiss troops * are busy ensuring the security of participants and guests of the forum

3000 - the total number of representatives of politics, business, science and the media who arrived in Davos this year of more than 90 countries

1200 - the number of permanent members of the VEF

31 500 * Swiss francs per year * - the size of the membership fee of each of the permanent members

100 -the number of transnational WEF partner corporations (among them ABB, Nestle, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank and Google)

115,000 Swiss francs - the annual amount of the VEFA partners contribution

79% of WEFA participants are men

21% are women

54 years - the average age of participants