Italy PM vows radical policy changes

THE leader of Italy’s new populist government vowed yesterday to redistribute migrants around the EU and review EU sanctions against Russia, in his first policy speech to lawmakers since being sworn in.

Giuseppe Conte addressed the Senate ahead of two parliamentary confidence votes expected to confirm his new cabinet, formed from a coalition of far-right and eurosceptic parties.

His eurosceptic government was sworn in on Friday after almost three months of political turmoil that alarmed European Union officials and spooked financial markets.

A lawyer with little political and no government experience, Conte was nominated by far-right League leader Matteo Salvini and the head of the anti-establishment 5-Star movement Luigi di Maio — both of whom are now his deputy prime ministers.

Conte’s maiden policy speech reaffirmed several of the coalition’s key manifesto themes, including a tough line on migrants, rejection of economic austerity and conciliatory gestures toward Moscow.

“We want to reduce our public debt, but we want to do so with growth and not with austerity measures,” he told senators.

“We will strongly call for the Dublin Regulation to be overhauled in order to obtain respect for a fair distribution of responsibilities and to achieve an automatic system of compulsory distribution of asylum seekers.”

Under the Dublin Regulation, would-be asylum seekers must submit their applications in their country of arrival, meaning Italy has huge numbers to deal with.

On Russia, which faces EU sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, Conte said: “We will promote a review of the sanctions system.”

Both former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party — a campaign ally of the League — and the outgoing center-left Democratic Party have said they will not vote in favor of the new government.