Watch out, pariah! After the sanctions, Western countries are pushing for the exclusion of Russia from international economic summits, while the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and a G20 bringing together the finance ministers.
The United States announced on Monday April 18, through Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, that it will boycott G20 sessions in which Russia will participate, with Russian Finance Minister Anton Silouanov expected to attend. in videoconference. This boycott decision was taken, for lack of having succeeded in excluding Russia from these meetings, despite the support of the Europeans. “At this stage, there is no possibility of excluding the Russians from these enclosures”we explained to Bercy before the meetings held in Washington.
The precedent of the “G8”
The G20 is an informal meeting established in 2008 following the crisis of subprime : there are therefore no statutes which could provide for the terms of exclusion of one of its members. It was up to the nineteen countries to organize the meeting without Russia – Poland indicated that it would see itself replacing Vladimir Putin’s country if necessary.
This is what happened in 2014 in the context of what was then called the “G8”: following the invasion of Crimea, Western countries decided to organize the meeting without Russia. However, the G20 is no longer a club reserved for Western economic powers: China, Brazil and even Indonesia, which currently holds the presidency, are also members.
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The first two countries mentioned have taken a clear position against the exclusion of Russia. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi indicated at the end of March that‘”no member has the right to deprive another country of its membership status”. The Indonesian authorities opposed it less directly, pointing out that “it is an obligation for the G20 presidency to invite all members “, in remarks reported by the Jarkata Globeand emphasizing the relevance of the Russian presence in addressing global macroeconomic issues.
Prove a breach
For the World Bank, the case seems just as badly started. The conditions of exclusion of a member are this time provided for by the statutes,“if a Member State fails to fulfill any of its obligations towards the Bank” following a majority vote of the governors. To date, the institution has simply announced that it is stopping its programs to Russia.
The same goes for the IMF: there is no exclusion clause linked to the outbreak of a conflict, but only in the event of a breach of the obligations of the organization. In 2013, Argentina was threatened with exclusion after being accused of biasing its macroeconomic indicators.
” No chance “
In any case, two votes are needed to exclude a member: the first, with 70% of the votes – the votes are allocated in proportion to the financial participation of the States – allows the voting rights of the offending country to be suspended “after expiry of a reasonable period”. At the end of a new reasonable period, a vote, corresponding to 85% of the voting rights this time, leads to the exclusion of the country.
“There is no chance of that happening.Judge Sylvie Matelly, Deputy Director at Iris, the Institute for International and Strategic Relations. Moreover, since these institutions are already accused of being at Washington’s boot, the slightest initiative in this direction would risk accentuating their discredit. »