The situation in Italy does not
"permit losing time", Premier Giorgia Meloni said in her first
address to parliament laying out her five-year agenda and
addressing current emergencies like the energy crisis ahead of a
confidence vote in the House Tuesday and the Senate Wednesday
which will put her government into the fullnesss of its powers.
Saying that she was "emotional due to the solemnity of the
moment," Meloni thanked President Sergio Mattarella, who tapped
her as premier after she led Brothers of Italy (FdI) to a
convincing win for her rightwing coalition in the September 25
general election, for his "precious advice" upon taking office.
"This is a fundamental moment for democracy, thank you," she
told the Lower House where FdI, the League and Forza Italia have
a big majority.
Meloni thanked her rightwing coalition partners for enabling her
to name a government in near-record time.
She said they had led to the formation of a government "in one
of the shortest periods of time in history".
Italy's first woman premier also thanked her predecessor Mario
Draghi for enabling a swift passage of power, even though
"ironically" FdI had been the sole opposition force to him, and
said her most heartfelt thanks were for the Italian people, "the
only sovereign".
She added that she felt on her shoulders "the weight of being
Italy's first female premier".
Meloni went on to say that "some people may not like some of our
proposals, but we will keep our pledges".
Ina dig at some foreign countries who have said they will
remain "vigilant" over the moves of a rightwing government,
Meloni said "those who want to stay vigilant are not respecting
the Italian people".
She said "Italy is part of the West, the cradle of freedom and
democracy".
Meloni aid her government would always put the national interest
first and stressed "we don't want to sabotage the EU but to make
it more effective".
She said "Italy will be inside the EU institutions" and "we will
respect the rules and will help change".
She also thanked the men and women who had given their lives on
international missions saying "the homeland will always be
grateful" to them.
Turning her attention to the energy crisis, Meloni said the sea
had gas deposits "that we must fully exploit".
She said that the government aimed to give a "imposing" support
to the energy sector and help Italians pay their bills, while
some measures would have to be put off.
She said energy burdens should be shared in a "more balanced"
way internationally".
Meloni added that Italy, in particular the south, was "the
paradise of renewable energy sources with its sun, win, the heat
of the Earth, the tides and rivers. A patrimony of green energy
too often blocked by bureaucracy and incomprehensible vetoes.
"In other words, I am convinced that Italy, with a little
courage and practical spirit, can emerge form this crisis
stronger and more autonomous than before".
Meloni added that: Ukraine's freedom "can't be bartered with our
own", that there would be "concrete measures against inflation
in the budget", that the European Central Bank's gamble on rates
was hitting citizens and businesses hard; that investing in
Italy could be a "good deal", and that the EU-funded post-COVID
National Recovery and Resilience Plan was a "great opportunity
which we must exploit to the best".
She said Italy would negotiate "adjustments" to the NRRP to
reflect the energy crisis and would push ahead without waste,
while cutting debt with structural growth.
In other remarks, Meloni said Italy needed a semi-presidential
reform.
She also announced a "fiscal truce" for citizens and businesses
and said that "it's now time for a real fight against tax
evasion, not a rush to get revenue".
Meloni announced a flat tax for the self-employed earning up to
100,000 euros.
She announced "flexible" budget moves on early retirement and
said that the pension system must also safeguard young people.
Meloni also said that the 'citizenship wage' basic income (RdC)
was "not the solution, but jobs are".
She said that the government would give support to those who
can't work but that the basic income was a "defeat".
Meloni went on to say that she had been "struck" by criticism of
her decision to add "merit" to the job description of the
education ministry, saying that a school system that did not
reward merit enshrined lower standards.
On her new 'birth rate' brief for the family ministry, Meloni
said the aim was to "support families, and launch a plan against
the demographic glaciation" of Italy, with the greying of the
country amid ever falling birth rates.
She promised to make nursery facilities free of charge and keep
them open until late to help working mothers.
In other remarks, Meloni said that she had never felt any
sympathy with any regime, including Fascism, and would feel
sympathy for "the young people who will protest against us in
the street".
Meloni said the anti-Jewish Fascist race laws were "the lowest
point in Italian history".
Addressing fears on abortion and gay rights, she said "we will
never limit existing rights".
She also said the government would be in the front line against
the "cancer" of the Mafia.
Meloni said the government would crack down on illegal
immigration while passing a decree on legal flows.
The government would also promote a "Mattei Plan" for migration
from Africa, referring to late state oilman Enrico Mattei's
development schemes there and saying the root causes of
migration like poverty and hunger had to be "eradicated".
She said this would be a "virtuous model of collaboration and
growth between the EU and African nations."
Stressing that it "cannot be the migrant traffickers who decide
who gets to enter Italy", she said refugee and asylum rights for
those fleeing war and persecution would continue to be
guaranteed.
Meloni described herself as an "underdog", in English, for the
mammoth tasks facing her and in being Italy's first woman prime
minister, but promised to "upset the forecasts again" as she had
done in leading FdI to 26% in the general election from 4% four
years previously.
She ended her speech by saying "I have always been a free
person, I will always be one, and for this reason I intend to do
what I must. Thank you".
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