Meloni draws praise at G7 after saying she quit smoking

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received congratulations from fellow leaders at the G7 summit after saying she had stopped smoking, a habit for which she had long been known.

The exchange took place during the summit after Meloni ordered three coffees. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz then asked if she also wanted a cigarette. Meloni replied:

"No, I stopped,"

Her answer prompted immediate reactions from other leaders present. Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi congratulated her, saying:

"You stopped it. Bravo."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is a trained medical doctor, also welcomed the news. After hearing that Meloni had quit smoking “a month” earlier, she commented:

"Good,"

Meloni had previously attracted attention for her heavy smoking and had once joked that being told to quit could make her want to ‘kill someone’. The revelation at the summit also drew a reaction from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said:

"It is impossible."

Meloni responded:

“I know, I know,” Meloni replied. “I don’t want to kill somebody.”

The premier has not shared details of how she gave up smoking. Meloni had also recalled in October 2025 that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once told her:

"You look great. But I have to make you stop smoking."

In the book Georgia’s Version, based on a series of interviews, Meloni said she had taken up smoking again after having previously quit for 13 years.