President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s latest meeting in Washington was a successful exercise in mutual admiration, during which both world leaders appeared careful not to bring up topics that would expose any divisions.
The figures described each other as friends and celebrated the “deep friendship that bonds the United States and Italy.” Their conversations focused on strengthened cooperation in the face of challenges from China and support for Ukraine against Russia. There was, however, a notable lack of discussion around gay rights and abortion.
These are among the greatest dividing lines between the two world leaders. Prime Minister Meloni is seeking to limit abortions, by offering financial support to women to carry their pregnancy to term. She has received heavy criticism from gay rights activists for declaring that “a child deserves only the best: a mother and a father.” President Biden, on the other hand, has placed the abortion issue at the centre of his reelection campaign, describing attempts in the U.S. to restrict abortions as “extreme” and “dangerous.” Despite having changed his position on gay rights during his political career, he has been branded the “most pro-equality president we have ever had.”
There might have been much for the two leaders to say to each other on these issues, but Meloni made it clear that these were not brought up. Asked by reporters whether the U.S. president, or other lawmakers, had talked to her about gay rights, she responded: “Nobody asked me anything on this.” They, according to Reuters, succeeded in “skirting differences over LGBTQ rights.”
The timing is clearly not right for a Washington-Rome row, particularly with Mr. Biden looking to highlight his role in making NATO “stronger, more energised, and, yes, more united than ever in its history” ahead of next year’s elections. Ms. Meloni wants to keep G7 relations stable ahead of her leadership of the 2024 summit. Confrontation, it seems, has taken a backseat to political pragmatism.
