Germany wants G7 finance ministers to focus on recovery, climate protection

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany wants to use its presidency of the Group of Seven (G7) to support the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen efforts to improve climate protection, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Saturday.

"Germany has taken over the G7 presidency for 2022 - the G7 countries stand for freedom, democracy and progress," Lindner said in a tweet. "With this in mind, we must overcome the pandemic and drive the global economic recovery," he added.

Lindner, party leader of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), junior partner in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way ruling coalition, said he wanted to put questions of digitization and climate neutrality on top of the agenda of finance ministers and central bank governors during their G7 meetings.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Sandra Maler)