Italy’s Conte plays by the ‘club’ rules
LA MALBAIE, QUEBEC: Italy’s new antielite Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte played by the rules at the Group of Seven industrialised nations summit, leaving none of the club’s members unhappy in his debut on the international stage in Canada.
Mr Conte did, however, support US President Donald Trump’s unpopular call for Russia to rejoin the group that includes the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan. “I agree with President (Trump). Russia should be readmitted into the G8. It is in the interests of everyone,” Mr Conte said in a Twitter post. Russia was expelled from what was then called the G8 in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
“Overall an encouraging debut,” said one European official as the G7 summit drew to a close and the Italian premier had not gone so far as to break the ranks of the European countries as feared by some. “He was lowkey, moderate, aware of the fact that leaders were weighing him, willing to engage and show pro-European credentials.”
EU Council President Donald Tusk hailed what he called a “first and very good, promising meeting” with Mr Conte, while EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he “didn’t see divergences between Italy and the rest of the European Union over trade.”
A little-known law professor, Mr Conte, 53, emerged from obscurity last month when he was chosen to lead the coalition of the 5-Star Movement and the far-right League. Mr Conte appeared to break with the EU line during his inaugural speech in the Italian parliament this week when he called for a review of EU sanctions on Russia. He landed at the summit in Quebec just 48 hours after taking power, forcing European partners to guess what goals Rome would pursue at the summit.
US President Donald Trump railed against trade practices he called unfair to the US at the meeting, where leaders agreed on Saturday to fight protectionism and reform the World Trade Organisation.
The 5-Star and the League’s electoral victory in the March election has been attributed in part to their promise to prioritise the problems of Italian people, echoing Trump’s “America First” position. The stance had generated some anxiety about Italy breaking ranks and standing by Mr Trump against the European partners.
At his informal meeting with Mr Trump, the US president congratulated Mr Conte for the “great electoral victory” and invited him to the White House.
“He will do a great job — the people of Italy got it right!” he said in a Twitter post.