In her first speech to the Italian parliament as Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni outlined her agenda, looking to reduce taxes overall while extending the flat tax, combat people smuggling and illegal migration and introduce policies to benefit Italian families.
Meloni gave her first speech as Prime Minister to the parliament on Tuesday and outlined her new policies going forward with her coalition government.
Speaking on her economic policies, Prime Minister Meloni she would reduce tax burdens on businesses and households, and extend the flat tax for the self-employed from 65,000 euros to 100,000 euros, Il Giornale reports.
“We aim to intervene gradually to cut labour taxes by at least five points for firms and families, reducing the tax pressure on firms and increasing the pay packets of workers,” Meloni said.
The flat tax on self-employed persons in Italy was introduced by the Italian Budget Law in 2019 and allows those making up to 65,000 euros to pay a flat income tax of 15 per cent rather than the progressive taxation rate of 23 to 43 per cent. Some other European countries also have flat tax, including Hungary, allowing ordinary citizens earning typical amounts for honesty work to keep considerably more of their own money.
Pro-family policies are also on the Meloni agenda, with the Prime Minister stating, “There is another important educational institution, perhaps the most important. And it’s family. We want to support and protect it, and with this support the birth rate,” and spoke of getting Italy out of a “demographic glaciation.”
In order to tackle the issue of Italy’s low birth rate, which reached a record low for Italian citizens during the coronavirus pandemic, Meloni stated she would be putting forth “an imposing plan, economic but also cultural, to rediscover the beauty of parenthood and put the family back at the centre of society.”
Immigration has also been a major topic for Meloni during the election campaign that saw her party win the most votes of any single party last month.
“We do not intend in any way to call into question the right to asylum for those fleeing war and persecution. All we want to do in relation to immigration is to prevent smugglers from selecting entry into Italy,” Meloni said.
People smugglers have been implicated in horrific deaths of migrants this year, including allowing two Syrian children aged just one and two years old to die of thirst in September during a crossing of the Mediterranean.
Prime Minister Meloni added that her government would be looking “to pursue a road, little travelled to date: stop illegal departures, finally breaking the trafficking of human beings in the Mediterranean.” How this will be achieved remains to be seen, although Meloni proposed a naval blockade earlier this year to stop illegal migration.
Constitutional reform, specific reform of Italy’s presidency, is also on the new government’s agenda. “We are firmly convinced that Italy needs a constitutional reform in the presidential sense, which guarantees stability and restores the centrality of popular sovereignty,” Meloni said.
“We want to start from the hypothesis of semi-presidentialism on the French model, which in the past had also obtained wide approval from the centre-left, but we remain open to other solutions,” she added.
Since winning last month’s national election, international media have linked Meloni and her party, the Brothers of Italy (FdI), to Italy’s fascist past. the Prime Minister addressed those claims during her speech.
“Freedom and democracy are the distinctive elements of contemporary European civilization which I have always recognized. And so, despite what has been claimed instrumentally, I have never felt sympathy or closeness towards anti-democratic regimes. For no regime, including fascism,” she said.
“I have always considered the racial laws of 1938 the lowest point in Italian history, a shame that will mark our people forever,” Meloni added.
Meloni is also known for her support for Ukraine in the country’s war with Russia and reiterated her support saying, “Those who believe it is possible to trade Ukraine’s freedom for our peace of mind are mistaken. Giving in to Putin’s blackmail on energy would not solve the problem, it would aggravate it by opening the way to further demands and blackmail, with future increases in energy even greater than those we have known in recent months.”
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.
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