Elite Protection at Astronomical Costs

By Peter Koenig

Global Research,

Region: Europe

The 2026 G7 Summit is to take place in Evian-les-Bains, France, from June 15 to June 17.

Yes, Evian, on the shores of Lake Léman (Lake Geneva), from where the famous Evian Water comes. The G7 stands for Group of Seven, an informal forum of seven of the world’s so-called most advanced and wealthiest economies; a misnomer, as they are marked by the globe’s greatest inequalities in distribution of wealth, income and wellbeing.

Participants and Delegations 

In addition to the G7 leaders, who currently are

Mark Carney (Canada),

Emmanuel Macron (France),

Friedrich Merz (Germany),

Giorgia Meloni (Italy),

Sanae Takaichi (Japan),

Keir Starmer (United Kingdom), and

Donald Trump (United States),

the European Union will be represented by

António Costa (European Council President) and

Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission President).

Rumors have it that President Trump may attend the summit personally. That may be at least part of the reason for the extreme security fiasco – reminiscent of WEF Davos 2026, when Trump’s arrival toppled the entire WEF Agenda.

The seven lead attendees will bring their delegations of up to 1,000 to 1,500 officials, VIPs and business representatives.

In addition, some 3,000 to 3,300 accredited media reps are expected, comparing with similar events. Overall, the total of roughly 5,000 to 6,000 G7 participants seems reasonable. They are the workable numbers for Evian authorities. Although official figures have so far not been published, this corresponds to the 2003 G8 (at the time Russia was part of the spectacle, hence G8) that also took place in Evian, under then French President Jacques Chirac.

Compare this conference to the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 Davos event, which also had 3,000 officially registered participants, and several hundreds, perhaps into the thousands of demonstrators. The WEF “dignitaries” were protected by some 5,000 Swiss Army soldiers and thousands of police from all over Switzerland, at an astronomical cost borne by the Swiss taxpayers.

The official G7 meeting location has not been disclosed, but it could well be the sumptuous old Château d’Évian.

Protestors

On the other side of the equation, official Geneva projections predict up to 50,000 protesters, with heavy spillover expected into Geneva and neighboring French areas around Evian. That figure is being discussed in the context of the 2026 G7 Summit in Évian, where authorities are already preparing major security and border measures. As of this weekend, many Genevan businesses and shops will be barricaded; circulation and entry into Geneva will be difficult.

The earlier 2003 G8 protests, also in Évian, often used as the benchmark, drew between 50,000 and 100,000 demonstrators according to police and organizers.

Security and Protection 

Almost all of the participants, including media reps, will arrive at the Geneva airport and have to travel through or around Geneva to reach Evian, which means that the bulk of protection measures are to be taken by the Geneva and Swiss authorities.

In addition to the Swiss Army, an undisclosed number of police from Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and who knows where else, will be mobilized. The cost, again, is expected to be astronomical. The Macron government has upfront refused to share in the security costs of Switzerland. This apparently is still being negotiated. No Swiss participation in the summit had originally been considered, but finally the Swiss President and Foreign Minister are being invited as observers.

Cost for security and protection 

Neither side, France nor Switzerland, has disclosed cost estimates. Probably for good reasons because the public would be outraged that for another useless G7 meeting, hundreds of millions, if not in the billions (Euros, Swiss francs or US dollars – no matter) of public funds will be wasted for an event that nobody officially ordered (or can legally order), because the G7 have no official organizational or institutional status or mandate.

They have never been elected by any parliament nor by the United Nations, and the members are arbitrarily self-selected Western countries. Up to March 2014, Russia was part of the Club, but after what the west calls the Crimea Annexation, Russia was ousted from the G8. Hence, now the G7 are just talking to themselves, with an agenda that covers only Western interests.

At this point it must be said, despite and against Western monster propaganda, Crimea was not annexed but the Crimean population, which is over 90% Russian, decided in a referendum launched by Crimea to become again part of the Russian Federation, what they were until 1954 (at the time of the Soviet Union), when apparently for strategic reasons, the USSR Communist Party leadership in Moscow, under Nikita Khrushchev, decided to transfer Crimea to Ukraine, a constituent state of the Soviet Union.

Western readers, please take note.

Agenda

The publicly announced G7 priorities for Evian 2026 are now clearer and include a fairly broad agenda.

Confirmed themes:

• Reducing global inequalities is the central political priority.
• Development finance reform and building more effective, mutually beneficial partnerships are part of that push.
• Critical minerals value chains are a cross-cutting priority.
• Geopolitical crises, including support to Ukraine, are explicitly on the list.
• Child-related issues, especially development and online protection of minors, are included.
• Organized crime and illegal flows are also listed.
• The French presidency also frames the summit around new rules of global governance.

Just imagine what such an agenda will do to the truth, when almost all program items are based on lies.

In practical terms, that means themes and priorities are set, but minute-by-minute changes are possible and expected. The Summit’s political direction is visible: inequality, security, minerals, children, and governance are the five main points of focus at Évian.

What is however more important than the official agenda are the expected 300 to 500 “side meetings”, many if not most of which will take place behind closed doors, à la WEF Davos, or the World Health Assembly (WHA) which just finished end May 2026.

Decisions and debates of these semi-secret meetings may never reach the public domain which underlines the irrelevance of the event because secrecy can only mean betrayal of the people.

Nevertheless, this secrecy of elite events should alert the public at large, that plans are being negotiated for the world in which We, the 8.4 billion people, have to live; and We, the People, have nothing to say. This fact alone should make it crystal clear, that democracy —as We (maybe wrongly) understood it— is dead; that democracy maybe has never existed – and was just an indoctrinated illusion that served its purpose to blind the public at large, that we were believing in a smoke-screen or hologram image, with no substance behind it.

However slowly, though, the tables are turning towards a more spiritual living mode, out of darkness towards the light. See also this, predicting an enlightening future of Africa and her role in the world.

Changes are never fast. But the irrelevance of the G7 is marked by their economic decline, as compared to the emerging Global South, accounting for 85% of the world’s population and some 43%-plus of the world’s GDP (about 42% for the G7). Roughly 70% of the world’s growth between now and 2050 is expected to take place in the so-called developing countries, i.e., the Global South.

This “growth” is unlikely going to be solely linear and vertical, nor monetary alone, but counting humanitarian values of wellbeing, physical and spiritual health, true education, and harmonious societal and peoples’ cohabitation.

The times of monetary wealth, presented as civilization’s God for the last several hundred years, are shifting away from material wealth towards spiritual and societal prosperity of wellbeing and harmony.

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst, regular author for Global Research, and a former Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.