LONDON — Leaders of the summit countries have been changing. Gerhard Schroeder, the German Social Democratic chancellor of Germany, was the first to go. His replacement, Angela Merkel, is a Christian Democrat but leading a coalition with the Social Democrats.

The next was Japan's Junichiro Koizumi. His successor Shinzo Abe does not represent any radical change from the past.

President Jacques Chirac in France was replaced in May by Nicolas Sarkozy, who came from the same party as Chirac but has made it clear that he wants to shake up France.