French minister: Swiss G7 approach lacked openness

Éléonore Caroit, right, pictured here with French President Emmanuel Macron. Keystone-SDA

A French minister has expressed regret about how authorities in Switzerland and Geneva handled the run-up to the recent G7 summit in Evian (France).

Rather than using the event to raise Geneva’s profile, “there was a lack of openness from the outset”, said Éléonore Caroit, the French Minister of State for Francophonie, International Partnerships and French Nationals Abroad, on Friday.

“It is a shame to only focus on the costs and the potential negative aspects [of the G7 and surrounding events],” the French-Swiss minister told journalists in Geneva.

For her, the event was “an opportunity to put international Geneva in the spotlight and to show the merits of this city as a centre of multilateralism and in hosting delegations”. Caroit said she hoped it would be “a shared lesson for the future”.

The minister however declined to comment on the issue of who is to cover the security costs in Geneva, since she is not involved in negotiations. “To my knowledge, we have not received any statement of account or invoice from Switzerland,” she said.

She said that cooperation – unlike at the 2003 G8 summit in Evian, when France reimbursed a large part of the Swiss costs – was regulated by an agreement that came into force in 2008.

Meanwhile, unlike in 2003, no delegation stayed on Swiss territory in 2026. “There was a distancing from the G7 summit from the beginning. In the end, at the request of the Swiss authorities, France did everything to ensure that Geneva was involved as little as possible in the organisation of the summit,” Caroit said.

Costs of CHF31.6 million

On Wednesday, cantonal minister Carole-Anne Kast put the costs incurred by Geneva as a result of the summit at CHF31.6 million ($39.1 million). Of this, some CHF20 million will be borne by the canton, with the rest paid by the Swiss federal government.

“On the issue of security costs, Switzerland and France were unable to agree on a financial contribution from France,” the Swiss foreign ministry told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday.

Authorities from both countries remain in contact on the various issues related to the summit. However, the prospect of a French contribution to security costs is low, the foreign ministry says.

The meeting of the heads of state and government of the leading Western industrialised nations (G7) took place from June 15-17 in Evian-les-Bains, France, on the French side of Lake Geneva. Many participants arrived via Geneva airport.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.