EU REFUGEE POLICY A ‘FAILURE,’ SAYS NEW ITALIAN PM

ROME• Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte declared Europe’ s immigration policy a “failure” and demanded it be renegotiated as he outlined on Tuesday a heavy-spending domestic policy agenda for the populist “government of change.”

In his first policy address ahead of parliamentary confidence votes, Conte also warned that the government planned to renegotiate fiscal policy with the European Union, though he assured wary partners that leaving the common euro currency “is not up for discussion” and never was.

Conte, a political unknown who until last week was still teaching law classes, readily acknowledged that the alliance government of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and rightwing League marks a radical shift from the Italian status quo.

“If ‘populism’ is the attitude of leaders to listen to the people ... and if ‘anti-system’ means introducing a new system that removes the old privileges of power, then this government deserves both these descriptions,” said the premier, who was sworn into his first political office Friday.

Conte was interrupted nearly three dozen times during his 75-minute speech to the Italian Senate ahead of a confidence vote later Tuesday. He is to deliver a similar address Wednesday before Parliament’s lower Chamber of Deputies.

Between them, the 5-Stars and League have a slight parliamentary majority that is expected to give the government the votes it needs, giving the go-ahead to Western Europe’s first populist government after three months of political and financial turmoil.

Conte responded to concerns about the xenophobic League’s rhetoric, insisting that Italy “isn’t racist” and accepts its responsibilities to welcome and integrate legitimate refugees. But he said the rest of the EU must take on a greater burden of accepting refugees as well as negotiating with migrants’ home countries and helping send back those who don’t qualify for asylum.

“It’s obvious to everyone that the way migrant flows have been managed has been a failure,” he said. “We will put an end to the business of immigration that grew disproportionately under the cloak of a pretend solidarity.”

He also sought to assuage fears in Europe about his budget-busting fiscal program, but he offered no details on financing and limited his comments to responding to concerns that Italy at some point might leave the Eurozone. He also called for lifting EU sanctions on Russia, citing Moscow’s strategic role internationally and the risk that sanctions will crush Russian civil society.