Group of Seven (politics)

A forum of the (formerly) world's seven biggest economies and Russia, the twelfth. Created as the G6 in 1973, it now consists of:

Canada
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
~~Russia~~ - kicked out after they annexed Crimea
UK
USA

The European Union also turns up for the party, as well as other major countries being invited.

The presidency rotates each year with each country getting to host an annual summit, set the agenda and deal with the inevitable rioters (or protesters in Canada). The main summits are usually hosted in out of the way locations.

The 2009 summit was supposed to have been hosted at La Maddalena on the Italian island of Sardinia. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi moved it to L'Aquila, Abruzzo, on the mainland (directly east of Rome), on account of a massive earthquake there.

It has now been effectively replaced by the G-20^[1] as the main economic forum, which also attracts rioters.

Not to be confused with the other Group of Seven, that revolutionized landscape art in the early 20th century.

Appearances in Fiction:

Anime and Manga

Several Axis Powers Hetalia strips take place at the G8, though with the countries there instead of their leaders. A running joke is that no one ever seems to remember that Canada is supposed to be there, or if he is there, that he exists.

Live-Action TV

The Girl In The Cafe, a BBC drama just before the 2005 Gleneagles Summit involved Kelly Macdonald romancing Bill Nighy at a fictional G8 summit in Reykjavik, where they deal with the thorny issues surrounding ending world hunger for children.

Literature

The Rebus novel The Naming of the Dead is set at the Gleneagles Summit.
Mentioned in the Alex Rider novel Snakehead, in the context of a terrorist attack. Scorpia has not been contracted to attack the G8 itself, but a competing environmentalist conference on an island off the coast of Australia.
The climax of the Forsythe novel The Afghan centers around a terrorist attack on some near-future G8 summit, which is being held on a cruise ship to avoid the rioter problem.

↑ which includes all of the above members and also Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, and Turkey, as well as the European Union at large, which means some members are represented twice

[1] which includes all of the above members and also Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, and Turkey, as well as the European Union at large, which means some members are represented twice

[1]