The footage shows Meloni appearing to roll her eyes at Macron, followed by a visibly tense handshake between the two leaders. This exchange comes after a diplomatic spat over the inclusion of language on abortion rights in the final communique of the G7 Summit.

According to reports, the draft communique initially made no direct reference to abortion, sparking accusations of watering down “support for LGBTQ rights” compared to previous statements. This led to a clash between Rome and Paris, with Meloni accusing Macron of seeking to score political points ahead of a national election in France.

The frosty interaction between Meloni and Macron is not the first time a leader’s eye-roll has captured public attention. In 2017, a candid exchange between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel went viral, with Merkel appearing to roll her eyes at Putin’s gesticulations.

The 2023 G7 communique released after the leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which hosted the event last year, called for “access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care”.

Similar or slightly tougher language was proposed by French and Canadian diplomats during the habitual negotiations that took place ahead of the 2024 meeting, which is being hosted by Italy’s conservative prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

“All the other countries backed them, but it was a red line for Meloni so it is absent from the final text,” one diplomat told Reuters.

Macron later told reporters he regretted the decision.

“You don’t have same sensibilities in your country,” Macron told an Italian reporter. “France has a vision of equality between women and men, but it’s not a vision shared by all the political spectrum.”