‘Pack your bags,’ Italy warns migrants
Election of euroskeptic, populist party alarms European neighbours
Italy’s new populist leaders commemorated the founding of the Italian republic by attending a pomp-filled military parade Saturday — and then promised to get to work creating jobs and expelling migrants.
“The free ride is over,” new Interior Minister Matteo Salvini warned migrants at a rally in northern Italy. “It’s time to pack your bags.”
The pledge of mass deportations to come was a reminder that Italy has a staunchly antiimmigrant, right-wing party in its governing coalition — and that the European Union has a new partner governing its fourth-largest economy and a country on the front lines of migration into Europe.
Earlier, Salvini joined Premier Giuseppe Conte and the rest of the newly sworn-in Cabinet to view the Republic Day parade. Italy’s aeronautic acrobatic squad flew low and loud over downtown Rome trailing smoke in the red, white and green of the Italian flag.
The national pride on display is a feature of every Republic Day, but it took on a particular significance this year after Italy on Friday ended three months of political and financial turmoil and swore in a government whose populist and euroskeptic leanings have alarmed Europe.
Conte, a law professor plucked from relative obscurity to head an unlikely governing alliance of the anti-establishment 5- Star Movement and the right-wing League party, said the celebrations Saturday transcended all the tensions of recent days.
“It’s the celebration for all of us, of our republic,” he said.
Conte’s Cabinet was sworn in after a last-minute deal averted the threat of a new election that could have turned into a referendum on whether Italy stayed with the shared euro currency.
The political stability relieved financial markets on Friday but Italy’s European neighbours continued to express concerns about the euroskeptic bent and the heavy spending agenda of Italy’s new government.
Conte’s government faces mandatory confidence votes next week in parliament, where the two governing parties have a slim majority.
Republic Day commemorates the day, June 2, 1946, when Italians voted in a referendum to abolish the monarchy in favour of a republic, Italy’s first.
The political upheaval that has created western Europe’s first populist government this week has been dubbed the start of Italy’s Third Republic.