ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, pledged on Monday to keep Ukraine’s support in its conflict with Russia after the most difficult time since World War Two.
Meloni struck a belligerent tone in her maiden address to parliament, saying her conservative coalition would speak out in Europe and deny fascism despite her party’s far-right roots.
Italy will continue to support Western sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Meloni said in a wide-ranging speech that lasted more than an hour.
“Anyone who believes that Ukraine’s freedom can be traded for our peace of mind is wrong,” Meloni said.
“Succumbing to Putin’s energy blackmail will not solve the problem. It will make it worse by opening the way for further demands and blackmail.”
The 45-year-old head of the nationalist Italian Brotherhood won last month as part of an electoral coalition that included former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant coalition.
The government is Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II, and Moscow’s former close ties with both Berlusconi and Salvini have raised concerns over its foreign policy.
Meloni later said, “You don’t necessarily have to be a federalist to believe in European integration,” denying accusations from opposition lawmakers that she was anti-European.
“The (European Union) is involved in a lot of things that should be left to the nation-states, not the big strategic issues,” he said.
condemned fascism
Meloni said the government would provide financial support to families and businesses hit by the energy crisis, which would cost so much that her administration postponed some of its more costly campaign promises. I warned you that you might have to.
“The situation in which governments have to act is very complex and perhaps the most difficult since World War II.”19 Pandemic and Ukraine.
Growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Rome, Meloni cast herself as an underdog ready to defy critics who accused her of being an illiberal demagogue.
“I have never felt sympathy or familiarity with an anti-democratic regime. There has never been a regime that contained fascism,” she said.
“In the same way, I have always considered the (anti-Semitic) race law of 1938 to be the lowest point in Italian history and a disgrace that will forever stain our people.”
On immigration, a key issue for her supporters, she said Italy would seek to stop people from being smuggled across the Mediterranean and would work with African governments to stop the flow of migrants from the continent. Said he would help.
“No one should come to Italy illegally,” she said.
Meloni’s supporters gave her a standing ovation after her 70-minute speech, chanting “Georgia, Giorgia.”
The House of Representatives then approved the new government by 235 votes to 154 on a motion of confidence, with five abstentions. A similar vote is due in the Senate on Wednesday, with Mr. Meloni also winning a clear majority.
Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Giuseppe Fonte, Giselda Vagnoni; writing by Keith Weir.Editing: Chiju Nomiyama, Crispian Ballmer
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