Her accusation came as a result of a spat over the failure to mention the right to abortion and LGBTQ rights in the final declaration of the summit.
Macron, who called a snap election in France after his party’s dismal European election results last week, said he was sorry the word “abortion” did not feature and complained of “different sensibilities”.
“There is no reason to cause controversy about issues that we have long agreed on,” Meloni said on the first day of the summit at the Puglia resort of Borgo Egnazia.
“And I think it is profoundly wrong, in difficult times like these, to use a precious forum like the G7 to campaign.”
A draft of the summit statement said the G7 stood by its commitments made in the final communiqué during last year’s Hiroshima G7, which did specifically refer to abortion.
“The controversy over the presence or absence of the word abortion in the conclusions is a total pretext,” Meloni said.
“The conclusions of Borgo Egnazia recall those of Hiroshima, in which we already approved last year the need to ensure that abortion is ‘safe and legal’.
“This is an established fact, and no one has ever asked us to backtrack on this.
“If the conclusions do not introduce new issues, it is so as not to be unnecessarily repetitive, simply recalling what has already been stated at previous summits.”
The tension seemed to ease later on Thursday when Macron kissed Meloni’s hand at the dinner of the first day.
ANSA
