A disagreement on abortion between Meloni and Macron arose at the G7 summit.
Georgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister, spoke up in defense of her conservative government's stance and accused Macron of engaging in political games. This came after Macron himself announced early elections for France, which were scheduled to take place later in the month.
At a press conference on Thursday, Meloni stated that there was no reason to discuss the issues they had already agreed upon for some time. She expressed her disapproval at using the significant platform of the G7 for political campaigns.
Macron, however, claimed that he "regretted" Italy's move to erase the reference and said that France plans to "tread firmly" in defending the right to abortion. In a conversation with an Italian journalist, Macron emphasized France's belief in equality between men and women.
The conflict between the leaders comes at a time when G7 leaders are working on creating a unified communique, the final document of the summit, outlining the values and plans for the year ahead. The G7 has mostly centered its focus on supporting Ukraine's anti-invasion efforts in the past two summits, but this year's summit has witnessed an unprecedented intrusion of national political issues.
Joe Biden, the US President, has emphasized the importance of maintaining the reference to reproductive rights in the communique, as per US officials. The 2023 G7 communique, released after the summit in Hiroshima, Japan, had advocated for "access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care." Their communiques in the past had used more general terms like "access to sexual and reproductive health services."
One US official said, "The president felt very strongly that we need to have, at the very least, the language that references what we did in Hiroshima on women's health and reproductive rights." They also mentioned that Biden and Meloni were unlikely to bring up the topic of reproductive rights in their meeting scheduled for Friday.
The abortion debate has taken on increased significance in the US, following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which was enabled by a solid six-member conservative majority, including three judges appointed by former President Trump.
In Italy, Meloni's conservative political ideology has helped her Brothers of Italy party garner significant power in 2022. She has, so far, maintained her stance as Italy's support for Ukraine while promoting hard-right policies domestically. As an aside, Meloni's brother-in-law, Francesco Lollobrigida, opined that Meloni is so passionate about this issue due to the presence of the Pope at the summit.
Macron, on the other hand, remains vocal about the importance of women's right to choose, with France having just become the first country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution in response to the US Supreme Court's decision on abortion rights. Macron told an Italian journalist, "France integrated this right of women to have an abortion, the freedom to have control over their own body within this institution. The same sensibility is not present in your country now."
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During the G7 leaders' discussion on creating a unified communique, Joe Biden advocated for maintaining the reference to reproductive rights, highlighting its importance on a global scale. Various issues were brought to the fore during this year's summit, with Europe playing a significant role in shaping the world's stance on women's reproductive rights.
