The new Prime Minister promises to follow European rules.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Rome Giorgia Meloni has spoken in the Italian Parliament countless times. But her appearance on Tuesday morning is historic: it is the first since she was sworn in as prime minister – and the first time that a woman has led the government in Rome.
The 45-year-old is proud and at the same time stresses the great responsibility when she asks the Chamber of Deputies for the vote of confidence, which should be available on Tuesday evening and which her government still needs after taking office at the weekend.
Meloni is moderate and pro-Europe in her speech: “Italy is fully part of the West and its alliance system.” Together with Greece, the country is the “cradle of Western civilization and its value system”.
The goal of her government is not to slow down or sabotage European integration, but to make Europe more efficient in crisis management. They will accept the rules in force and want to help change some – for example the stability pact.
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Meloni wants to use the money from the EU recovery fund “in the best possible way” and not waste it. In view of the high raw material and energy prices, Meloni wants to agree with the EU Commission on “necessary adjustments” to the fund. She finds clear words for the Ukraine war: Italy will continue to “support the brave Ukrainian people” and will not accept Russia’s war of annexation.
She calls freedom and democracy the hallmarks of Europe. You have never felt sympathy or proximity to anti-democratic governments. That applies to every regime, “including fascism”.
She called the racial laws of 1938 “a low point in Italian history” and “a disgrace”. Meloni had not previously distanced herself so clearly from fascism, which many critics had repeatedly accused her of because of her past in radical right-wing parties.
Meloni wants to get Italy out of debt
She wants to govern with her cabinet for a full five years, thereby breaking through the “great Italian anomaly” of frequent changes of government and cabinets of experts. The interests of the nation always come before party interests, she emphasizes.
When it comes to refugees, she is more moderate than during the election campaign: the intention is not to question the right to asylum. Rather, she wanted to prevent “smugglers from making the selection when entering Italy”.
>> Read here: Mussolini admirer and Russia friend – these are Giorgia Melonis most powerful men in Parliament
Like her predecessor Mario Draghi, Meloni wants to get Italy out of its high debt through growth. She sees the current energy crisis as an opportunity: Italy is “a paradise for renewable energies”, which, however, has too often been blocked by bureaucracy and vetoes. In order to relieve companies and families quickly, she announced concrete measures to be adopted in the next budget.
Anyone doing business in Italy must be supported instead of “harassing and treating entrepreneurs with suspicion”. Meloni announced a new fiscal pact, wants to lower taxes. The Mafia calls Meloni a “cancer that we will face head on”.
The right-wing tripartite alliance of Melonies Fratelli d’Italia, the Lega and Forza Italia won the parliamentary elections at the end of September with a clear majority, so the vote requested is considered a formality. Last Friday, President Sergio Mattarella commissioned Meloni to form a government, and on Sunday she was sworn in together with her cabinet.
More: These are the key figures in Italy’s new cabinet