José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, took part in the 37th G8 Summit which was held in Deauville together with Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, Naoto Kan, Japanese Prime Minister, Barack Obama, President of the United States, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister, David Cameron, British Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia, Angela Merkel, German Federal Chancellor, and Stephen Harper, Canadian Prime Minister.
In 2011, France chaired both the G8 and the G20. The EU, as a full member of the G8, pushed for ambitious answers to common challenges. This was the first time since the beginning of the transitions in the Arab world that the G8 leaders convened to address these developments. The Summit delivered a strong message of support to the democratic transition.
The gathering also served as a platform to promote nuclear safety at global level following the nuclear incident in Japan in March 2011. Other main topics discussed by the G8 leaders were the Internet, the world economic and trade, green growth and innovation, peace and security issues, development accountability and the G8 Partnership with Africa- leading to the first joint declaration between Africa and G8.