Brussels – The greats of the world in small Fasano, in the province of Brindisi. Guests of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, current president of the G7, in the Borgo Egnazia resort. On the first day of the summit, the agenda includes debates on Africa, Ukraine and the Middle East. Volodymyr Zelensky has also arrived in Puglia, tomorrow will be the Pope’s first time at the G7. But above all the controversy over the issue is what takes center stage removal of the reference to the right to abortion from the draft final leaders’ declaration.
Of all the issues on the table, Meloni places the emphasis on Africa. This is why he – he explains when inaugurating the works – chose to bring together the leaders in southern Italy, in a land that overlooks the south of the world and in the heart of the Mediterranean. “As you know, the Italian Presidency wanted to dedicate ample space to a continent that is fundamental for the future of all of us, which is Africa, which asks us for a different approach than what we have often demonstrated in the past”, states the Prime Minister .
On the renewed attention towards Africa, Meloni receives – and not today – the support of EU leaders. For Ursula von der Leyen “Our partnership with Africa has transformed provides development assistance in a partnership between equals“, second Charles Michel “we can no longer avoid opening a serious debate on multilateralism and in particular on multilateral development banks”. The president of the European Commission warns that “the G7 offer must be better” than those of China, Russia and the Middle East, the other international players who have set their sights on the continent’s opportunities. That is, it must “offer true long-term sustainable investmentswhich create jobs” for local communities.
Together with the Global Gateway, the EU strategy to develop new infrastructures in developing countries, the Italian government is focusing on the Mattei Plan and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment to “support the development of the most fragile nations, especially in Africa and in Asia”. The latter is an economic and infrastructure corridor project to connect India, the Middle East and Europe, supported by the Group of Seven. “We mean create synergy activities between these three projects to maximize efforts and investments in order to obtain better benefits for all”, declared the Prime Minister.
The topic, as underlined by Meloni, is inextricably linked to the management of migration. “While we work on the root causes” of migration, “we have entered into agreements with third countries. These are partnerships that follow a global approach: whatever agreements we have with third countries, they must fit very clearly into our set of rules and correspond to European values“, assured von der Leyen, under accusation in recent months for having signed agreements with authoritarian regimes – Tunisia, but also Egypt and Mauritania – to stop the departures of migrants towards Europe.
On the crisis in the Middle East, the leaders of Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States expressed full support for the three-phase plan to end hostilities presented by Joe Biden. “We need of an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and a lasting end to this crisis. We are ready to do our part with rapid and effective action for recovery and reconstruction leading to a two-state solution,” he said in a post on X von der Leyen.
On the Ukrainian front, the summit was called to reach a agreement for a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, supported by returns from frozen Russian assets. Zelensky left Borgo Egnazia satisfied, declaring on Telegram that he had found “clear support for Ukraine, international law and just peace” and thanking the leaders. On the sidelines of the works, von der Leyen announced the agreement, explaining that “all G7 partners will contribute to this loan”.
Tomorrow will be the turn of the debate on generative artificial intelligence, on which Pope Francis will also speak. The pontiff’s participation is linked to the element of controversy that has been taking place since before the start of the works: Italy would have insisted on removing from the traditional final joint declaration the point in which it was underlined the importance of guaranteeing “effective and safe access to abortion”. Triggering the irritation of France and Canda, who asked to strengthen the final document of the G7 in Hiroshima a year ago, which spoke of “legal and safe access”, but also of the United States. According to what we learn, in the bilateral meeting between Biden and Meloni scheduled for tomorrow, the American president will insist with the Italian prime minister on the issue of human rights.
