Italian PM wins first confidence vote in new government

Giuseppe Conte pledges good relations with Brussels under new coalition.

ROME — Italy’s prime minister declared his country’s place was at the heart of the European Union, “not outside or isolated,” before winning the first confidence vote to approve a new government without the far-right League.

In a speech before parliament on Monday morning, Giuseppe Conte pledged that the new coalition between the populist 5Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party (PD) would maintain good relations with Brussels and take on a leading role within the EU.

“Defending the national interest doesn’t mean pigeon-holing ourselves to a side nor does it mean putting this country above all else,” Conte said, amid shouts from League lawmakers who are now part of the opposition.

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The 5Stars-PD coalition won a vote of confidence in the parliament’s lower house after Conte’s speech on Monday, with 343 in favor, 263 against and 3 abstentions. The coalition faces another vote of confidence in the senate on Tuesday, which it is also expected to win.

League leader Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on his party’s governing coalition — also led by Conte — with the 5Stars in August, hoping to trigger a snap election given his lead in the polls. Yet the move backfired when the 5Stars and the PD agreed to form a new government under Conte, sidelining the League.

In his speech, Conte set out an agenda with a strong EU focus, signaling Italy would turn over a new leaf under the new government after the League-5Stars coalition spent much of its year in office at odds with Brussels over budget issues and migration.

But he also called on the incoming Commission of Ursula von der Leyen to amend key EU fiscal rules and rules on distributing asylum seekers within the bloc. “The EU needs to improve its policies and [it] needs better economic and fiscal governance,” he said.

The prime minister also outlined the new government’s plans for environmentally friendly policies and support for young families, workers and savers.

Meanwhile, outside parliament, Salvini and Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, led a rally to protest against the new coalition government. Streets in the center of Rome were filled with people trying to reach the square and traffic was jammed throughout the city.