2009 G20 London summit a force for good in the medium term." Leaders of the member countries began to prepare for the London Summit months before the effective date, notably with two official meetings dedicated to that preparation, one held in Berlin, Germany, on 22 February 2009 for European leaders, and another in Horsham, Sussex, United Kingdom, on 14 March 2009 for Finance Ministers. Leaders of the four European Union member countries of the G20, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy along with the two largest European non-members, Spain and the Netherlands, met in Berlin on 22 February 2009 to prepare for the
2008 G20 Washington summit Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was not initially invited, but was "so desperate to secure an invitation" to the summit, that he traveled "to Asia to seek the help of President Hu Jintao of China." Zapatero eventually extracted an invitation through "intense lobbying" of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who happened to hold two invitations (the second French invitation was due to the fact that France held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during this period). The following participants of the Washington summit include the core members of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and the European