Italy's populists say EU immigration rules a failure

ROME -- Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte declared Europe's immigration policy a "failure" and demanded for it to be renegotiated as he outlined a heavy-spending domestic policy agenda of Italy's populist "government of change" Tuesday.

In his first policy address ahead of Parliamentary confidence votes, Conte readily acknowledged the coalition government made up of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and right-wing League marks a radical shift from the Italian status quo.

"If 'populism' is the attitude of leaders to listen to the people, ... and if 'anti-system' means introducing a new system that removes the old privileges of power, then this government deserves both these descriptions," said the premier, who was sworn into his first political office Friday.

Conte responded to concerns about the xenophobic League's rhetoric, insisting Italy "isn't racist" and accepts its responsibilities to welcome and integrate legitimate refugees. But he said the rest of the European Union must take on a greater burden of accepting refugees, as well as negotiating with migrants' home countries and helping send back those who don't qualify for asylum.

"We will put an end to the business of immigration that grew disproportionately under the cloak of a pretend solidarity," he said.

Conte was interrupted nearly three-dozen times during his 75-minute speech to the Italian Senate ahead of a confidence vote later Tuesday. He is to deliver a similar address today before Parliament's lower Chamber of Deputies.

Between them, the 5-Stars and League have a slight parliamentary majority expected to give the government the votes it needs.

Conte, a law professor at the University of Florence until he was tapped as premier, noted the historic nature of the first confidence vote, which followed a week seeing the installation of Western Europe's first populist government after three months of political and financial turmoil in Italy.

He also sought to assuage fears in Europe the euroskeptic attitude the League and 5-Stars displayed on the campaign trail and in drafts of its government policy paper will transfer into government policy. But he offered no details to calm European fears about his budget-busting fiscal program.

"Europe is our home. It is the home of all of us," Conte said. But he added as a founding member of the EU, Italy has the absolute right to demand a better deal on financial and immigration regulations.

Conte said Italy was a "convinced" member of NATO and reaffirmed its "traditionally privileged" alliance with the U.S.

But he also called for the lifting of EU sanctions on Russia, citing Moscow's strategic role internationally and the risk sanctions will crush Russian civil society.

Conte gave his speech standing between his two political masters: 5-Star Leader Luigi Di Maio and League leader Matteo Salvini. The two gave up their own ambitions to be premier and agreed to find a compromise candidate to head a previously unthinkable alliance.

As expected, the new premier's address drew heavily from the 5-Star-League's 57-page policy agenda, the "Contract for the Government of Change," repeating its call for a two-tiered flat tax, a basic income for poor Italians and a "dignified" minimum wage. Conte gave no specifics on how the expensive public programs would be financed, other than by calling for new criminal penalties for flagrant tax scofflaws.

The 5-Star-League's financial platform has worried economists and European Union policymakers who warn it will increase Italy's debt burden, already Europe's heaviest after Greece.

Conte said Italy was committed to reducing its public debt, but said it wouldn't do it through austerity measures. Rather, he said the government plans to grow the economy through environmentally sustainable development, reduction in bureaucracy and a more business-friendly administrative climate for the small and medium-sized companies, which are the backbone of the economy.

He said he was confident Italy's European partners would agree, "because Italy's interests at this phase of the European construct coincide with the general interests of Europe and with the aim of preventing its possible decline."

Leading the opposition in the Senate Tuesday, Democratic Party Sen. Franco Mirabelli said it was fine to call for decent salaries and a speeding up of public works contracts. He said the Democrats could support some of the new government's policy proposals.

"But the point is: How do you do it? With what resources?" Mirabelli said, articulating the concern over how the 5-Star-League government will finance its economic goals.