After a week marred by his party's rout in European elections, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz drew a literal chorus of much-needed support from G7 leaders at their summit in southern Italy on Friday.
Before the working session on migration, US President Joe Biden led the leaders of the world's advanced industrialized democracies in a rendition of Happy Birthday as Scholz turned 66, according to the German delegation.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also present at the impromptu digression from business in the coastal city of Bari.
At midnight Thursday, Scholz, who is accompanied in Italy by his wife Britta Ernst, had already marked his birthday with his team and a cake.
The week did not start well for the chancellor after the June 9 European Parliamentary elections netted his Social Democratic Party (SPD) only 13.9% of the vote, marking the party's worst result in over a century.
Together with its two coalition partners, the SPD secured less than a third of the vote in a humiliation that raises questions about the future of Scholz's government.
After the G7 conference, the chancellor was due to travel on to Switzerland on Saturday for the Ukraine peace summit.
Scholz will then return to Berlin where he faces more wrangling and infighting over the 2025 federal budget.
