ROME, Aug 29 (NNN-ANSA) — Italy’s premier-designate Giuseppe Conte on Thursday set the 2020 budget as a priority for a new government formed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
“This is a delicate phase for the country and the budget is a priority,” he said after receiving a government formation mandate from President Sergio Mattarella.
Conte said “I will set to work immediately for a budget that will combat the VAT hike, safeguard savers, give a solid prospect of growth and social development”.
Conte said “Italy must be a reference country in the protection of people with disabilities, that doesn’t leave with experience be lost abroad, but is an attractive country for young people who are abroad, that sees a flourishing Mezzogiorno.
A country in which the public administration is not permeable to corruption, a country with a fairer and more efficient justice system where everyone, really everyone, pays their taxes, but pays less.”
Conte said “in the next few days I will return (to President Mattarella) to drop my reservations (on forming a new government) and “in the case of a positive outcome (of talks with parties), to propose the list of ministers”.
Italy, Euro area’s third-largest economy, was thrown into crisis on August 20 when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned following the failure to form a new coalition government. In the 2018 Italian general election, no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung parliament. Conte had been tasked with forming the new coalition government, which failed to materialise after weeks of negotiations between the various opposing parties.
–NNN-ANSA-AGENCIES
