Georgia Meloni accused Emmanuel Macron of scoring points ahead of the French parliamentary elections later this month. Photo: Alessandra Benedetti
Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuelle Macron was at odds over abortion at the G7 summit in Italy.
The French president rebuked Ms Meloni after she insisted on mentioning “abortion” was removed from the joint conclusions of the meeting.
< p>The Italian Prime Minister responded by accusing Macron of scoring points ahead of parliamentary elections in France later this month.It risks undermining the show of Western unity on issues such as Ukraine and the Gaza Strip that had been planned for the annual G7 meeting.
Mr Macron said: “You know the position of France, which has secured the right to abortion in its constitution.”
“France has a vision of equality between women and men, but this vision is not shared by all politicians. spectrum.”
“In your country the feelings are different,” he told an Italian reporter.
Ms Meloni said on Thursday there was no reason to stir up controversy over the issue.
“I believe that in such difficult times it is absolutely It is wrong to campaign [for elections] using such a valuable forum as the G7,” she told reporters.
The two leaders were already quarreling over her tough stance. -line immigration policy and have sharply contrasting policies, as well as recent political fortunes.
Anti-abortion protesters demonstrate at the Colosseum in Rome. Photo: Matteo Nardone/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
The centrist and pro-European Mr Macron was humiliated by Marine Le Pen's Eurosceptic Rally in Sunday's European Parliament elections.
After this, he called early parliamentary elections in France, trying to stop the French. flirts with the far right but risks losing control of the National Assembly and becoming a lame duck president.
Ms Meloni's Brothers of Italy group, which has roots in a neo-fascist group, won a stunning victory in the European elections in Italy, promising to put an end to Brussels' abuses.
The international ranking of right-wing Eurosceptics has never been stronger. was even higher after this victory, which culminated in her hosting the G7 summit.
The 2023 G7 communique, released after last year's leaders' summit in Hiroshima, Japan, called for “access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care.”
French and Canadian diplomats proposed similar or stronger language for this year's joint statement.
“Every other country supported them, but for Meloni it was a red line, so it's not in the final text,” one diplomat said.
Biden sides with Macron
A senior Italian diplomat said the word “abortion” did not appear in the final communiqué, but it made clear that the G7 still supported the goals of the Hiroshima declaration.
“This is the story.” “was fabricated and has no substance,” the diplomat said.
But a senior US official said that Joe Biden, the US president, also did not want the mention of abortion to disappear from the text.
p>”The President felt very strongly that we needed to at least have language that referenced what we did in Hiroshima regarding women's health and reproductive rights,” the official said.
Meloni opposes abortion and says in a recent autobiography that her mother came close to having an abortion before making the decision. to keep the baby.
The ruling Conservative coalition sparked outrage in April after it passed a controversial law allowing “pro-motherhood” groups to attend abortion clinics to try to deter women from ending their pregnancies.< /p> >
In March, France became the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution.
Abortion is very sensitive in the United States. Mr. Biden has vowed to create abortion rights if he wins a second term in the November election.
The Democrat warned that his rival Donald Trump could ban abortions nationwide if he wins the race for the White House.
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