France
Marine Le Pen hits back in EU funds misuse trial
French politician Marine Le Pen has hit back against charges of illegal party funding by European Parliament deputies from her far-right National Rally (RN) party. Le Pen and more than 20 other senior party figures are accused of hiring assistants who worked on party affairs rather than for the European Parliament which paid them. She told a court in Paris on Monday that parliamentary assistants paid for by the Brussels assembly were naturally involved in politics – because that was what drew them to the job in the first place.Read more
Italy’s Meloni plays down G7 abortion row
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says a suspected row over the absence of the word “abortion” in a G7 statement has been blown out of proportion. She issued the response after a commitment made last year by G7 nations to address access to “safe and legal abortion” was left out of the final statement at this year’s summit in Italy. Both France and the US are reported to have been part of a diplomatic tug of war with Italy about whether to mention abortion in the final statement. French PresidentRead more