The leaders of the G7, this year chaired by Italy, all arrived in Puglia, in Borgo Egnazia, welcomed yesterday morning by Council President Giorgia Meloni, before the opening session themed "Africa, climate change and development": ample space was devoted to migration and the role of traffickers, which was defined by Meloni in her opening speech as "increasingly worrying". Two sessions dedicated to the ongoing crises in the Middle East and Ukraine: in this regard, one of the key issues concerns Russian funds frozen in Belgium to be allocated to Ukraine, on which an agreement seems to have been reached. Then expanded sessions on infrastructure and investment and, after the Flag Ceremony, there was the dinner at the Castello Svevo in Brindisi, where leaders and their spouses dined on dishes by Massimo Bottura and Vincenzo Elia. Leaders in attendance included Von der Leyen, Michel and Zelensky, in addition to those from the G7 countries. Stirring up the most controversy, however, was an issue that was not supposed to be on the agenda, namely abortion, after rumors surfaced that the reference to "effective and safe access to abortion" had been removed from the latest draft of the G7 conclusions.
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