The first day of the G7 which opened at Borgo Egnazia – complete with “family” photos with Giorgia Meloni in the center – will be dedicated to the war in Ukraine. In the afternoon the guest of honor will be the president Volodymyr Zelensky who will meet the American president Joe Biden: the two will close an “unprecedented” security pact, Zelensky wrote on X. The other agreement that was found by the G7 sherpas is the one on the use of profits on assets frozen to Russia: 50 billion dollars to be given to Kiev within the year.
But today’s sessions on Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine risk being overshadowed by the diplomatic slip-up that characterized the eve of the Apulian summit: Italian Prime Minister Meloni wanted to eliminate the passage from the final document which will be approved tomorrow evening on the right to a “access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care.” An element already included in the last G7 in Hiroshima and pushed above all by France and Canada. In the draft of the final document which will be approved tomorrow, however, the topic of abortion is for the moment there is not.
The Sherpas are still working to find a final agreement but the issue of the right to abortion risks becoming the refrain of the entire Italian-led G7: this morning the White House announced that the President of the United States Joe Biden “does not give in on the issue of rights, will talk about it with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. The bilateral meeting is scheduled for tomorrow: a face-to-face event that is also important from a symbolic point of view given that Prime Minister Meloni in recent months, while maintaining an excellent relationship with the American president, has begun a secret rapprochement work with the candidate of the Republican party, Donald Trump. Even France’s Emmanuel Macron is diplomatically pushing for the passage on the right to abortion to be maintained in the G7 final document.
At the moment, therefore, the issue of abortion has been deleted from the final draft of the G7 drawn up by the Sherpas of the respective countries. The passage, cited byHandle which anticipated the document, reports: “We reiterate our commitments expressed in the final communiqué of the G7 in Hiroshima for universal, adequate and sustainable access to health services for women, including reproduction rights”. In the final communiqué of the Japanese G7, however, the word “abortion” was indeed there. A result that Meloni and the Sherpa Elisabetta Belloni they would also like to bring tomorrow to Pope Francis who will be the guest of honor of the G7 participating in a session on artificial intelligence. “We are discussing it,” he explained this morning to Sky Tg24 the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani.
The day’s program includes, in addition to the session on the Middle East, one on the conflict in Ukraine in which Zelensky will also participate. Afterwards there will be another family photo – official – at the Borgo Egnazia Golf Club before everyone moves to the Castello Svevo in Brindisi where the official dinner will be held this evening with the leaders and the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
