G7 leaders have dropped an explicit commitment to abortion rights in their final statement from a summit, according to a draft seen by AFP on June 14, after reports that hosts Italy were opposed.
Leaders of the Group of Seven rich democracies had at a Japan summit last year committed to addressing “access to safe and legal abortion” — but that reference does not appear in the draft of this year’s statement.
Instead, it simply references the 2023 so-called Hiroshima statement.
“We reiterate our commitments in the Hiroshima leaders’ communique to universal access to adequate, affordable, and quality health services for women, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights for all,” the draft says.
The United States and France had both pushed back after reports that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was trying to water down the language on women’s rights.
French President Emmanuel Macron publicly expressed regret at Italy’s position on abortion, noting the French parliament’s vote earlier this year to enshrine the right in the constitution.
Ms. Meloni hit back by noting Macron was facing upcoming legislative elections, saying it was “profoundly wrong” to use a G7 summit for “campaigning”.
“The controversy over the presence or absence of the word abortion in the conclusions is totally specious,” she said, according to the ANSA news agency.
She said the document would recall the language of the Hiroshima text, “in which we already approved last year the need to guarantee that abortion is ‘safe and legal’.”
Abortion has been legal in the Catholic-majority country since 1978, but accessing one is challenging due to the high percentage of gynaecologists who refuse to perform them on moral or religious grounds.
Ms. Meloni, a self-described “Christian mother” who came to power in 2022, has been accused by rights activists of attempting to make it more difficult to terminate pregnancies.
A senior EU official confirmed attempts to use the explicit wording on abortion had failed.
“We have been defending what was agreed in Hiroshima where the text was more explicit, but it was not possible to reach an agreement on disputes in the room,” the official said.
But he added: “What is important is that in the text you have promotion of sexual and reproductive rights.”
To back Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’
G7 leaders recommitted to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, according to a draft statement from a summit where they agreed a new $50 billion loan for Kyiv.
“We are standing in solidarity to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom and its reconstruction for as long as it takes,” said the draft from the Italy talks, seen by AFP.
It said the $50 billion loan — agreed in the presence of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky — sent “an unmistakable signal to (Russian) President Vladimir Putin”.
The loan will be backed by profits from the interest accrued on Russian central bank assets frozen by Western powers after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“The G7 intends to provide financing that will be serviced and repaid by future flows of extraordinary revenues stemming from the immobilisation of Russian sovereign assets held in the European Union and other relevant jurisdictions,” the draft statement said.
“To enable this, we will work to obtain approval in these jurisdictions to use future flows of these extraordinary revenues to service and repay the loans.”
It said the money would be disbursed through “multiple channels that direct the funds to Ukraine’s military, budget, and reconstruction needs — within the constraints of our respective legal systems and administrative requirements”.
The leaders tasked ministers and officials to start working on the technicalities to start providing the funds to Ukraine before the end of the year.
Zelensky was invited to join a special summit session on the Ukraine war on Thursday alongside the leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Canada, Britain and Japan.
Statement slams China’s ‘harmful’ industrial overcapacity
G7 leaders meeting in Italy criticised China’s “harmful” industrial overcapacity, according to a draft statement seen by AFP Friday, amid rising trade tensions between Beijing and the West.
“We express our concerns about China’s persistent industrial targeting and comprehensive non-market policies and practices that are leading to global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity in a growing range of sectors,” they said in a document seen by AFP.
Calls on China to stop sending weapons parts to Russia
The Group of Seven leaders called on China Friday to stop sending weapons components to Russia that are fuelling its war against Ukraine, according to a draft statement.
“We call on China to cease the transfer of dual-use materials, including weapons components and equipment, that are inputs for Russia’s defense sector,” read the statement, seen by AFP.
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