G-7 Personalities Meshed in Munich : Atmosphere: How the participants get along can influence world events. This was ‘an unusually friendly meeting.’

Behind all the grand issues, principled stands and policy debates, the Group of Seven summits are about seven individuals gathering around a table and talking about their problems.

How they get along with each other can influence the flow of world events. So it is not trivial that, although concrete agreements and commitments were sparse at this year’s three-day meeting, the host, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, proclaimed it an unqualified success on a personal level.

“There was an extraordinarily cordial atmosphere, an unusually friendly meeting,” he told reporters.

The esprit was particularly noticeable Wednesday when the G-7 became, for the moment at least, the G-8 with the addition of Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.

When President Bush and the other G-7 leaders held a luncheon meeting with Yeltsin at the conclusion of the formal summit--to which the Russians were not invited--they dropped the more formal behavior of the diplomatic world for the easygoing manners of longtime acquaintances.

So there was Bush, pretending to busy himself with some work on the table in front of him under the gold chandeliers of the Room of the Four White Horses in the Residenz, once home to the monarchs of Bavaria, suddenly tossing a piece of candy to British Prime Minister John Major, who caught it in midair.

And there was Bush again, making a special effort to maneuver Yeltsin into position for photographers in front of a large, colorful tapestry. They became so absorbed in their animated conversation that they continued even when it was obvious that neither understood what the other was saying because their interpreter had briefly wandered off.

Still, the friendly hand gestures--and the grabbing at each other’s elbows--continued for the photographers as they laughed heartily. In the illumination of photographers’ strobe lights, Yeltsin’s face shone like a boy’s at Christmas.

At the formal opening of the summit, the seven leaders (plus Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission) stood stiffly, some at arm’s length, for their group portrait.

But behind closed doors they sat at an almond-shaped table, some with their jackets off, their shoulders nearly touching the president, prime minister or chancellor in the next chair.

Even in the body language, said White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, the experience in Munich was “easier than in past summits. There don’t seem to be the contentious arguments that made past summits difficult.”

To underscore the informality of their meetings, the G-7 leaders tend to assume a first-name basis once the doors close. Appearing at a news conference with Kohl, Yeltsin seemed unsure whether he should reveal the fact that during the meeting, Bush, Kohl and French President Francois Mitterrand suddenly became George, Helmut and Francois.

When the summits began in 1975, informal, personal contact was considered an important element. This year there was an attempt to re-emphasize that contact: The summit’s German organizers scrapped an entire plenary session to permit the leaders to chat more informally in one-on-one meetings.

The effort appeared to pay off. While a personality clash between U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III and his French counterpart, Roland Dumas, is said to have exacerbated Franco-American relations, the two presidents, Bush and Mitterrand, reportedly got along fine.

Participants had nothing but kind words about Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, the only new face at the summit table.

Despite Japan’s enormous economic strength, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, like so many of his predecessors, tended to be reserved and to leave the debates to his European and North American colleagues.

Kohl aides indicated that Britain’s Major contributed significantly to the relaxed mood. Fresh from his first election victory as prime minister last April, Major was described as both personable and highly knowledgeable on financial questions.

He led Wednesday’s questioning of Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin as the summit leaders pressed for details of Yeltsin’s economic reforms. Earlier, when the G-7 leaders met by themselves, he pushed his colleagues gently but persistently to break the logjam that is preventing a global trade agreement.

“Major became very closely integrated at this summit,” commented one European delegation official.

For most of his summit colleagues, Major had an easy act to follow. Kohl and Mitterrand in particular could not tolerate the no-nonsense approach and occasional haranguing of the “Iron Lady,” Margaret Thatcher, whom Major replaced late in 1990, although Mitterrand has since rebuilt a cordial relationship with her.

When hecklers disrupted some of the press conferences, the G-7 leaders generally appeared unruffled.

During his news conference Wednesday, Bush was interrupted by a man named Charles Kane who said he worked for a Dutch magazine called Green Free News. Standing on his chair, Kane shouted, “The trees and homeless deplore your decisions here,” and he asked Bush, “Why don’t you give us your voice?”

“I’m trying to give you my voice right now,” the President replied. “If you’d be quiet, you’d hear it.”

Hecklers also interrupted a joint press conference by Kohl and Yeltsin and another by Major, shouting out environmental slogans. Kohl smiled, and Major cautioned an aide to be gentle when removing one of the protesters.