Rishi Sunak Denies Being Snubbed Despite Awkward Encounter with Giorgia Meloni at G7 Summit

Rishi Sunak, the UK Prime Minister, has downplayed suggestions that he was being snubbed by other leaders at the G7 summit in Italy, despite an awkward encounter with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and a lack of formal bilateral meetings on the first day.

The incident occurred when Meloni, one of Sunak's closest international allies, appeared to recoil from him after they embraced on his arrival in Puglia for the G7 leaders' summit on Thursday. The two leaders are known for their hardline stance on illegal migration and have collaborated on schemes to send asylum seekers abroad for processing. Meloni was one of the few major leaders to attend Sunak's AI summit last year, and he addressed a political festival in Rome organized by her Brothers of Italy party.

In a video of their encounter, Meloni can be seen asking Sunak sympathetically, "Are you OK?" The question was likely a reference to Sunak's Conservative party, which is currently trailing 20 points behind Labour in opinion polls and is widely expected to lose the general election in three weeks' time. In contrast, Meloni's Brothers of Italy party won almost 29% of the Italian vote in the European parliament elections last weekend, up from 6.4% in 2019.

Despite the awkward encounter, Sunak and Meloni published a shared Instagram post on Thursday afternoon, highlighting their shared values on freedom, border control, and national sovereignty. Sunak also held a 10-minute conversation with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during which they took a walk through the grounds of the golf club hosting the summit and spoke at length about Ukraine.

Why it Matters : The G7 summit is a critical platform for world leaders to discuss pressing global issues, and the dynamics between leaders can have significant implications for international relations and policy decisions. Sunak's perceived snub by other leaders could be seen as a reflection of his party's dwindling popularity and influence on the global stage. However, Sunak's insistence that he has been meeting with leaders informally and his efforts to maintain a close relationship with Meloni suggest that he is still committed to engaging with his international counterparts.

Sunak is expected to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming days. When asked about the lack of formal bilateral meetings, Sunak said, "At meetings like this, you can do lots of meetings with people in the margins of things, and that's exactly what I have been doing." He added that he had already sat down with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz informally.

The G7 summit is not without its challenges, with several leaders facing domestic political woes. Macron has called a snap parliamentary election after his party performed poorly in the EU elections in France, while the US President Joe Biden faces a tough re-election battle in November. Meanwhile, the personal ratings of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are languishing.

Key Takeaway :

• Rishi Sunak brushes off claims of being snubbed by other leaders at the G7 summit in Italy.
• Sunak's awkward encounter with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni raises questions about his party's influence on the global stage.
• The UK Prime Minister insists that he has been meeting with leaders informally, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
• The G7 summit is a critical platform for world leaders to discuss pressing global issues, including illegal migration and national sovereignty.
• Several leaders at the summit are facing domestic political woes, including Macron, Biden, Trudeau, and Kishida.

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