Giorgia Meloni collects confidence in the Chamber of Deputies with 235 yes . Compact majority vote in support of the government at the end of the programmatic statements by the new Prime Minister, who spoke for 90 minutes, interrupted by numerous applause, repeating the word "Italy" 30 times and the word "government" for 28 times .
THE SPEECH
“A fundamental moment of our democracy that we must not get used to - began Meloni -. Thanks to those who want to express themselves, whatever the choice they make ". Even if" my thanks, the most heartfelt, goes to the Italian people, to those who have decided not to miss the electoral appointment and have expressed their vote "in" democratic process that wants sovereignty in the people and only in the people ".
"FIRST WOMAN PREMIER A WEIGHT ON SHOULDERS"
"Among the many burdens that today I feel burdened on my shoulders", he continues after thanking his predecessor Mario Draghi and the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, is that of being " the first woman head of the government of this nation . I dwell on the extent of this fact I feel the responsibility I have towards all those women who go through difficulties to affirm their talent ". Then he also recalled those women who "built that staircase that today allows me to break the glass roof". Among them also Grazia Deledda , mentioned only by name together with others such as Nilde Iotti, Tina Anselmi, Oriana Fallaci and Samantha Cristoforetti.
The voters have chosen the center-right “and we will keep those commitments . I know well that some observers and the opposition will not like many of "our" proposals, but I do not go along with that trend whereby democracy is more for someone and less for someone else ”. On this the warning: "To those from abroad who want to watch over our government, I would say that they lack respect not to me but to the Italian people who have no lessons to take. They can spend their time better: in this room there are valid and fighting opposition forces who can make themselves heard without needing external help ”.
THE INTERNATIONAL POSITIONING
On the international front, " Italy is fully part of the West and its system of alliances: it was the founder of the EU, of the Atlantic Alliance, part of the G7 and, together with Greece, the cradle of Western civilization and its system of values, freedom, equality and democracy "and its" classical and Judeo-Christian "roots. Hence the condemnation of the Russian war in Ukraine , while on Europe the government's objective "is not to slow down or sabotage European integration but to help direct it towards greater effectiveness in response to crises ".
ENERGY AND PNRR
Precisely on the current energy crisis “only an Italy that respects its commitments can have the authority to ask at the European and Western level, for example, that the burdens of the international crisis be divided in a more balanced way . This is what we intend to do ". Without forgetting that" the sea has gas fields that we must fully exploit ".
So a mention of the PNRR: “ An extraordinary opportunity to modernize Italy : we all have a duty to make the most of it. The challenge is complex due to the structural and bureaucratic limits that have always made it difficult for Italy to be able to fully use even the European funds of ordinary programming. Suffice it to say that the Update to the Def 2022 has reduced the public spending activated by the NRP to 15 billion compared to the 29.4 billion envisaged in the Def of last April ".
REFORMS
On the programs "ahead on differentiated autonomy", the presidential reform , attention to the southern question "which must return to the center", the way to the "digital transition together with technological sovereignty", " fiscal truce for citizens and businesses that have difficulty in regularizing" , fight against tax evasion, flat tax for VAT numbers up to 100 thousand euros, a pension system that "guarantees young people", kindergartens for free and open late.
"NEVER CLOSE TO REGIMES"
The Meloni government has " never felt sympathy or closeness to any regime, including fascism ," he then said. The racial laws were "a shame", "the lowest point in Italian history". The new executive will not deny rights "and will never limit existing freedoms".
ATTACK ON CITIZENSHIP INCOME
There was no lack of citizenship income which, "for how it was conceived and implemented, represented a defeat for those who were able to do their part for Italy, as well as for themselves and for their family" . "For those who are able to work - explained Meloni - the solution cannot be citizenship income, but work, training and accompaniment to work, also making full use of the resources and possibilities made available by the Fund European Social ".
LEGALITY AND THE FIGHT AGAINST THE MAFIA
The "guiding star" of the new government's action will also be the fight against "mafia cancer" : "I started doing politics at 15, the day after the Via D'Amelio massacre, in which the mafia killed Judge Paolo Borsellino, pushed by the idea that one could not stand by and watch, that anger and indignation should be translated into civic commitment ". The remembrance of Sestu's agent Emanuela Loi is right, but also of" Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Rosario Livatino, Rocco Chinnici, Pio La Torre, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Piersanti Mattarella, Libero Grassi, Don Pino Puglisi, and with them a very long list of men and women that we will not forget ".
"I AM THE UNDERDOG THAT TAKEN THE FORECASTS"
Then the conclusion: "I am the first woman appointed as premier, I come from a cultural area that has often been confined to the margins of the Republic, and I certainly did not come this far in the arms of a family context and influential friendships. I represent this . that the British would call the underdog . The underdog, who has to overturn all predictions in order to succeed. and with the ideas that will come from the criticisms of those who vote against ".
THE REACTIONS
“From President Meloni over an hour of empty rhetoric, seasoned with many demagogic slogans and the usual cultural references of the right. Citizens, however, have not heard a single word about solutions to expensive bills and the energy crisis. Luckily they were ready ”, commented on Twitter the leader of the M5s, Giuseppe Conte . "He did not say a single word on how he wants to solve the problem of the expensive bills, the most urgent for Italians", he added during his explanation of vote, announcing an " implacable and uncompromising " opposition and expressing all his concern for possible steps back on 194 , given the positions of Minister Roccella and the bill filed by Senator Maurizio Gasparri.
A government, added the former premier, “in continuity with that of Draghi and the most evident signal is the Ministry of Economy in Giorgetti. Isn't it that Draghi wants to write the diary in the end? ”.
"She reminded us who she is and where she comes from, it is not clear where she wants to go and what she will do in the coming months," said Enrico Letta during the explanations of vote. "We did not understand what will happen to Italian bills in the coming weeks, we have not understood what the budget law will be like, what will happen to pensions. We have understood that the digital transition does not interest you, we have understood that you will make amnesties , and on this we will oppose ".
“We will be alternative. We will be inflexible guardians of the Constitution, we will be against its presidential design which is not good for the country . We will be alternative to the words he did not say on the environmental issue: in his keynote speech there is not a word on the environment, at the end of an electoral campaign that began with the tragedies of the Marmolada glacier and the Marche ", added the Pd secretary. .
Roberto Speranza instead replied on the pandemic, on which Meloni rejected the work of previous governments and promised that there will be no more closures: "The Italian model has always placed the protection of the right to health and the centrality of scientific evidence at the center . Sorry that Meloni has not yet left the electoral campaign, ”said the former health minister. “Not a word about vaccines which were the key factor in ending the toughest phase. Are you still afraid of displeasing the no vax who voted for it? ”.
In Meloni's speech there are "four great absences" according to the deputy Pd Elly Schlein : "Inequalities, the environment and the effects of climate change, precariousness and the Resistance, an absence that is not accidental and very serious".
A manifesto "more ideological than programmatic" for Debora Serracchiani , given that the premier "did not indicate how, with what times and with what resources to fight the suffering of the Italians". On the fight against inequalities, he added, "we will oppose your government, especially measures such as flat tax and masked amnesty, which only serve those who have more".
Carlo Calenda is also critical: "Giorgia Meloni's speech is an endless shopping list seasoned with tons of rhetoric, but no trace of how to do things, no choice or idea of a country. It seemed like an intervention by Conte, other than a sovereign revolution. : vague hints on energy policy, little or nothing on school, culture and health, good on income and international positioning. "" Ours will be a firm but constructive opposition, " Matteo Richetti said in his vote, while Ettore Rosato (Italia Viva) opened to institutional reforms: "We will be open to confrontation, the institutions need to modernize and the work of the opposition lies in confrontation, not in ever having to do anything".
For Silvio Berlusconi , on the other hand, Meloni's intervention is " very valuable " and has the merit of "identifying the country's priorities, tracing a clear course." Words, those of the Prime Minister, "definitive and totally acceptable on rights, freedoms, need to lower taxes and promote fiscal peace, to resume an energy policy no longer conditioned by the party of no and by ideological environmentalism ”.
(Unioneonline / DL)