Big Four (Western Europe)

The UK, the post-brexit EU trio and the rest of the member states

The Big Four, also known as G4 or EU4, refers to France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] These countries are considered major European powers[10][11] and they are the Western European countries individually represented as full members of the G7, the G8 and the G20. France, Britain, Italy and Germany have been referred to as the big four of Europe since the Interwar period[12] while the term G4 was used for the first time when French president Nicolas Sarkozy called for a meeting in Paris[13] with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel to consider the response to the financial crisis during the Great Recession. The OECD describes them as the "The Four Big European Countries".[14]

Issues

The leaders of the four countries usually have a series of joint video conference calls with the US president (see NATO Quint), or with other leaders, on international issues. With Barack Obama they discussed for example the TTIP, the Syrian civil war and the use of chemical weapons during the conflict,[15] the Crimean Crisis and international sanctions against Russia,[16] the post-civil war violence in Libya,[17] the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,[18] the 2014 American intervention in Iraq and the Ebola virus disease.[19] With Russia's President Vladimir Putin, they discussed, for example, the Vienna peace talks for Syria.[20]

Statistics

EU Big Four
Country population votes in the Council Contribution to EU budget in Euro MEPs
 France 66,616,416 29 8.4% 17,303,107,859 16.44% 74
 Germany 80,716,000 29 8.4% 22,218,438,941 21.11% 96
 Italy 60,782,668 29 8.4% 14,359,479,157 13.64% 73
 United Kingdom 64,100,000 29 8.4% 13,739,900,046 13.05% 73

Overview

Historical background

A cartogram depicting population distribution within the European Union at the member state level. More than half of all citizens of the EU live in the four largest member states: Germany, France, the UK, and Italy.

France, Britain, Italy and Germany have been referred to as the big four of Europe since the Interwar period (1919-1939), when the four countries signed the Four-Power Pact and the Munich agreement.[21] Britain and France, permanent members of the League of Nations' executive council along with Italy and Japan, were involved in a policy of appeasement towards Germany. World War II (1939-1945) saw Britain, France, Russia, China and the US fighting against Germany, Italy and Japan. The defeat of the axis powers resulted in the formation of the United Nations, where the five victorious countries were granted a permanent seat in the Security Council. Italy, Germany and Japan experienced a post-war economic miracle and took part in the 1st G6 summit along with France, the US and the UK in 1975.

Since 1945, France and Britain have often acted alone in defence policy matters while Italy and Germany have preferred to act within the framework of international organisations. For example, Britain, France, Italy and Germany are the EU countries represented in the Syria peace talks, but only France and the UK are directly bombing ISIS in Syria, while Germany and Italy prefer to give military aid and to send training troops.

US President Barack Obama with EU4 leaders Hollande, Cameron, Merkel and Renzi during the 2014 Wales summit

Quint

David Cameron, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, François Hollande and Matteo Renzi in 2016.

The Quint (or NATO Quint) is an informal decision-making group consisting of five western powers: the United States and the big four (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom).[22][23] It operates as a "directoire" of various entities such as NATO and the G8/G20.[24][25]

The idea of a trilateral axis on foreign policy issues was proposed by French President Charles de Gaulle to his British and American counterparts (see Fouchet Plan). However, that plan was never implemented. Meetings between the foreign ministers of these three countries and West Germany became known as Quad meetings around 1980. They were largely symbolic and led to no real decision.[26] The Quint in its current form seems to have begun as the Contact Group excluding Russia. Nowadays, Quint leaders discuss all major international topics participating in video conferences once every two weeks or meeting one another in various forums such as NATO, the OSCE, the G20[27] and the UN. The Quint meets also at ministerial and experts' level.[28] [29][30]

Brexit

A European Union membership referendum took place on Thursday 23 June 2016 in the UK and resulted in an overall vote to leave the EU, by 51.9%. The British government will invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union to start the process to leave the EU, which is expected to take several years. Despite voting to leave the European Union, the UK has remained a "great European power" and a member of the Quint,[31] as one of the Big Four and because of its special relationship with the United States, which is seen as "untouched" by Brexit.[32] The G4 now consists of the UK and the new EU big three (Germany, France and Italy), the large founding members of the European Community that have retaken a leading role in Europe following the decision of the UK to leave the EU.[33][34][35]

Current leaders

See also

References

  1. ↑ EU's Big Four speak as one ahead of G7 in Tokyo
  2. ↑ Europe's Big Four
  3. ↑ The Quint Acknowledging the Existence of a Big Four-US Directoire at the Heart of the European Union
  4. ↑ Jørgensen, Knud Erik; Laatikainen, Katie Verlin (2013-01-01). Routledge Handbook on the European Union and International Institutions: Performance, Policy, Power. Routledge. ISBN 9780415539463.
  5. ↑ "Leading indicators and tendency surveys". Oecd.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Debaere, Peter (2015-08-11). EU Coordination in International Institutions: Policy and Process in Gx Forums. Springer. ISBN 9781137517302.
  7. ↑ "EU 'Big Four' in bailout row". The Independent. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "RFI - European leaders meet in Paris". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "A Parigi il Vertice G4 sulla crisi finanziaria - Apiceuropa". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  10. ↑ Major European powers
  11. ↑ Major European nations
  12. ↑ Big Four of Europe sign Munich pact
  13. ↑ "RFI - Rescue of German bank falls through, G4 summit closes". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  14. ↑ "OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms - Composite leading indicator zones Definition". Stats.oecd.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  15. ↑ "Obama discusses further Syrian intervention with European leaders". CNN. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "Obama, Europe Leaders to Impose More Russia Sanctions -- Update". The Wall Street Journal. April 25, 2014. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Renzi calls for ceasefire as Italians flee Libya". M.thelocal.it. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  18. ↑ "Telefonata Renzi-Obama-Merkel-Cameron-Hollande su Gaza, Ucraina, Libia". Europa Quotidiano. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  19. ↑ "British PM Cameron joins Ebola talks with US President Obama". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  20. ↑ Stewart, Heather; Wintour, Patrick (2016-03-04). "European leaders urge Russia to maintain Syria ceasefire". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  21. ↑ Big Four of Europe sign Munich pact
  22. ↑ The Quint Acknowledging the Existence of a Big Four-US Directoire at the Heart of the European Union
  23. ↑ Nolan, Janne (2010-12-01). Global Engagement: Cooperation and Security in the 21st Century. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815716729.
  24. ↑ Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide
  25. ↑ White House Press Briefing, G8 Summit Preview
  26. ↑ Supporting the Revolution: America, Democracy, and the End of the Cold War ...
  27. ↑ "Sommet du G20: réunion au sommet du Quint". France Diplomatie : : Ministère des Affaires étrangères et du Développement international (in French). Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  28. ↑ Great Powers in the Balkans
  29. ↑ "Obama discusses further Syrian intervention with European leaders". CNN. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  30. ↑ "Telefonata Renzi-Obama-Merkel-Cameron-Hollande su Gaza, Ucraina, Libia". Europa Quotidiano. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  31. ↑ "PM meeting with USA, France, Germany and Italy: 9 July 2016 - Press releases - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  32. ↑
  33. ↑ "EU divided on answer to Brexit 'wake up call'". Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  34. ↑ "Meet the (divided) committee to save Europe". POLITICO. 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  35. ↑ "Brexit: Germany, France, Italy vow no talks before Britain makes formal decision on EU - Brexit: UK EU Referendum - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". mobile.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
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