Hear
BARI.- The tension between the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, went from latent to evident during the G7 summit, after a crossing right to abortion.
The strained bond between the two was exposed during the leaders’ dinner this Wednesday at the Castello Svevo in Bari. Upon arrival, Macron warmly greeted the Italian president Sergio Mattarella and to his daughter, and then more coldly to Meloni. The prime minister responded with a tense greeting and an icy look.
The duel between the two is not new. Both are immersed in the dispute over the new governance of the European Union (EU) from two different perspectives and with decidedly divergent objectives. In fact, the two were left in completely different positions after the European elections last weekend: the leader Brothers of Italy came out stronger, while the French president called early legislative elections for the end of the month after a tough defeat against the local extreme right.
But tension rose in the last hours due to the discussion about the inclusion or not of the right to abortion in the final declaration of the G7 summit, a reference that Italy, which holds the temporary presidency of the group, opposed. Finally It was Meloni’s proposal – whose anti-abortion stance is known and who, furthermore, did not want to make Pope Francis uncomfortable – that prevailed, despite the resistance of the United States, France, Canada and the European Union.
These four countries wanted to maintain the same wording as that of the final declaration of the G7 summit in Hiroshima (Japan) in 2023, which guaranteed “access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care services.”
“We were defending what was agreed in Hiroshima, where the text was more explicit, but it was not possible to find an agreement”explained a senior European Union official on Friday. “The important thing is that in the text we have the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights,” he added.
The debates on this issue were intense, particularly between Macron and Meloni, who finally managed to prevail.
“I’m sorry, you know France’s position. We don’t have the same point of view. France has integrated this right of women to abortion, the freedom to dispose of their body, into its Constitution. They are not the same sensitivities that exist in this country today“Macron said about it during a press conference.
Meloni responded by accusing him of “campaign using a valuable forum like the G7” before the first round of the French early legislative elections, on June 30.
“There is no reason to argue about issues that we have already agreed upon for some time. And I think it is deeply wrong, in difficult times like these, to campaign using a precious forum like the G7,” said the prime minister.
This diplomatic incident is not at all welcome for Meloni, who It is also counting on the success of the G7 to be able to strengthen its position when the negotiations between the 27 members of the EU for senior officials in the Commission and the European Council come to an end.
Meloni, furthermore, hopes that Marine Le Pen’s extreme right, after its success in the European elections, enters Macron’s government after the legislative elections and that further weakens the French president for the three remaining years of his government. Three years in which the tension between Meloni and Macron is probably still visible.
ANSA and AFP Agencies
THE NATION
