The concept can be summarized as the homepage of the «Politico» website did: «Giorgia Meloni and six lame ducks». Or use the variant chosen by the headline writers of the German Faz: «Six lame ducks and a swan» (always meaning Meloni). The substance is the same: in Borgo Egnazia there is a healthy leader, the landlady, and six “in danger, besieged or already defeated”, as the New York Times wrote with a deadly crescendo.
Ultimately, few of the summit attendees had any reason to be in good spirits. And what also made the Italian G7 complicated was the timing (two ongoing conflicts, one of which in Europe, for the first time since 1945) and an objective element summarized by a figure: at the first summit, in 1975, at the castle of Rambouillet in France, the participants (there were six at the time, there was no Canada, admitted the following year) represented around 70% of global GDP; today the world has become more complex and the Seven produce only 40% of the world’s wealth.
For all these reasons, according to many commentators at the Apulian summit, the participating countries should have played mainly in “defense”. The fact that things went smoothly and all goals are within reach can be considered a success. The only snag was the controversy over the mention of abortion in the final document. The affair is part of the history of intermittent tension between Italy and France, or between Macron and Meloni. The two leaders have spoken clearly and the Italian accusation against the transalpines is that of having created the problem out of nothing and having made it public (through the president’s sherpa, Emmanuel Bonne) for pure electoral purposes.
However, nothing comparable to what happened in 2018 when Donald Trump, who had left before the end of the summit, after reading the official document, began tweeting insults from the plane against the host Justin Trudeau, accused of not having interpreted correctly the opinions of his American colleague. Trudeau himself was the protagonist last year in Hiroshima of an exchange of statements with Prime Minister Meloni on the respect of LGBTQ rights by the new Italian government. The jokes seem to have been overcome by a recent visit by the prime minister to Canada, during which the tone appeared more than friendly. Among the leaders in crisis is Trudeau himself, a certain loser in next year’s elections (he confessed that he “would gladly give up his crazy job”). More or less in the same conditions is the German Olaf Scholz, who adds a cold character to him even by German standards. Compared to her, Angela Merkel, professional to a fault but also known for evenings with friends and her passion for imitations, is considered a funny girl.
Those who immediately connected with Meloni were the two Anglo-Saxon leaders, Joe Biden and the Englishman Rishi Sunak. With the latter, in particular, Meloni’s understanding was immediate. The two were seen laughing together while looking at Meloni’s mobile phone at a NATO summit.
In Alessandro Sallusti’s book-interview the prime minister explained that they were watching a video of Orietta Berti (“Who is Orietta Berti?”). It’s a shame that, according to all analysts, Sunak is condemned to defeat in the July elections. For him Borgo Egnazia is a sort of farewell step.
