‘EU destroys hope’

STRASBOURG: Italian right-wing leader Matteo Salvini denounced the EU as “destroyers” for policies he said robbed citizens of the right to hope, a week after his League party became parliament’s secondbiggest in a national election.

The March 4 vote ended in political gridlock, with Salvini, a tough critic of EU-imposed budget austerity and Italy’s migrant inflow, jockeying for power with the antiestablishment 5-Star Movement, which emerged as the single largest party. Neither group has enough seats to govern alone, leaving the country’s president with the delicate task of persuading rivals on the fractured political scene to team up and run the country. – Reuters