PARIS, Sept 26, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - France will be "attentive" to the respect 
of the right to abortion and other human rights in Italy following the 
election victory of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister Elisabeth 
Borne said Monday.

"Obviously we will be attentive, with the president of the European 
Commission, that these values of human rights, the respect of one another, 
notably the respect of abortion rights, are respected by all," Borne told BFM 
television.

But Borne declined to comment directly on the strong showing for Meloni's 
Brotherhood of Italy party on Sunday, which should see the eurosceptic 
populist party secure a majority in both houses of parliament.

"I am not going to comment on the democratic choice of the Italian people," 
she said.

Meloni, head of the Brotherhood of Italy party, has said she will maintain 
the country's abortion law, which allows terminations but permits doctors to 
refuse to carry them out.

Yet she has raised alarm among women's rights advocates by saying she wants 
to "give to women who think abortion is their only choice the right to make a 
different choice."

Her party has also pledged new steps to defend and promote Europe's "Judeo-
Christian" roots, prompting concern among minority groups.