G7 at the cost of precedent

As the current rotating chair of the G7 and host of the event, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been steadfast in her position, preventing the bloc from repeating the common position on the subject expressed in last year's joint statement.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at this year's G7 summit

Ms. Meloni knew that doing so would cause deep divisions within the group and damage the G7’s reputation in the world. But this retreat was intentional by Ms. Meloni from the beginning. Even before the meeting took place, Ms. Meloni deliberately accepted that the group would pay a high price in order to establish a precedent that could compensate for the group’s reputation and influence.

The precedent for this is inviting Pope Francis to attend the G7 summit. The Pope is the first head of the Vatican to attend a G7 summit. There are an estimated 1.3 billion Christians in the world. Meloni used the invitation to Pope Francis to attend the event to reach out to the Catholic Church's large community. Meloni herself has a pro-abortion stance, and if she wanted Pope Francis to attend the G7 summit, she could not allow the group to express support for women's right to decide on abortion.

It is clear that Ms. Meloni wants to set a new precedent rather than consolidate the consensus of views within the G7. This is very beneficial for Ms. Meloni in Italy but not necessarily for the G7.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/g7-truoc-cai-gia-cua-tien-le-185240617212819813.htm