Boosted by the recent EU election results, the Italian prime minister is ready to host the G7 summit in Puglia, southern Italy, this week. Top of the agenda will be Ukraine, Gaza and migration. The right-wing populist Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni heads to the G7 summit strengthened and in a good mood thanks to her party's results in the on Sunday.
Under Italy's presidency, the "Grande Sette," as the group of the world's seven leading economies is called in Italian, is meeting this week at the luxury Borgo Egnazia hotel in the poorer southern Italian region of Puglia. Meloni was personally involved in many of the details of what she is presenting as "her summit." She wants to show the region from its most beautiful side and underline what is happening there in economic terms, thanks to generous funds that have flowed into Italy via the European Union's pandemic recovery package.
Apart from Italy, the comprises the , , , France, the and , as well as the as a nonenumerated member. Before setting off from Rome, the prime minister said: "I'm proud that we are heading to the G7 and to Europe with the of all." Indeed, her counterparts in Western Europe are struggling.
French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved his country's parliament and called new elections after his party's catastrophic results in the . If his gamble goes wrong, could end up with a far-right government in less than a month. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition also suffered a major defeat in t.
