Italy Has New Government: ANSA

Italy has formed a new government under Premier-designate Giuseppe Conte nine days after he resigned. The new coalition of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party is less hostile to the European Union than the previous coalition that included the far-right Nationalist League. The 5-Star Movement led all parties in the 2018 legislative election, with more than 30 percent of the vote. Conte is making the 2020 budget the priority and announced intention to “combat the VAT hike, safeguard savers, give a solid prospect of growth and social development.” Other goals include reducing corruption, ensuring human rights protections, promoting renewable energy and sustainability, providing fair and efficient justice, ending inequality of all types and making the country attractive for young people: “it won't be a government 'against' but a government to modernise the country and for the citizens,” Conte said. Nationalist League party leader Matteo Salvini, removed from power with the new coalition and whose party came in third place in the 2018 elections, opposes pension reform, immigration and globalization. He suggests the new government was “born in Brussels.” – YaleGlobal