Several European Union establishment figures have praised the new, broadly unpopular Italian government saying it will be more “pro Europe.”
Former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker approved of the new coalition between the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the leftist Democratic Party (PD) saying Italy could now play a”leading role” in Europe, Il Giornale reports.
Congratulating Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Juncker said, “Thanks to his leadership and with the support of his government I am convinced that Italy will be able to play a leading role in facing these essential European challenges and live up to its responsibilities as a founding state of the Union.”
Juncker was joined by European Commission Vice President Franz Timmermans who said the new government was “good for the EU and I think it is good to have a government in Italy committed along pro-European lines, to find common solutions with the rest of the Union.”
European Parliament president David Sassoli, himself a member of the Italian Democratic Party, commented on the new government saying, “The return of Italy to a leading role is paving the way for the new legislature of EU institutions to be fully European and marked by unity with respect to the danger of sovereignty.”
“Those who wanted to destroy the Union found themselves marginalized. The chancelleries and EU institutions are aware of this, and even from Washington I have felt an interest in Italian stability and a resumption of its constructive attitude in Europe,” he added.
Populist leader and outgoing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini labelled the coalition as being born in Paris and Berlin saying it was, “without dignity and without ideals, with the wrong people in the wrong place.”
The Italian public echoes the stance of Salvini according to a poll that showed less than one in three Italians were positive about the new government which many fear will reopen Italian ports to mass migration.
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