Italy’s new populist leaders commemorated the founding of the Italian republic by attending a pomp-filled military parade — then promised to get to work creating jobs and expelling migrants.
“The free ride is over”, new Interior Minister Matteo Salvini warned at a rally in northern Italy adding: “It’s time to pack your bags.”
The pledge of mass deportations to come was a reminder that Italy has a staunchly anti-immigrant, right-wing party in its governing coalition — and the European Union has a new partner governing its fourth-largest economy and a country on the front lines of migration into Europe.
Earlier, Mr Salvini joined Premier Giuseppe Conte and the rest of the newly sworn-in Cabinet to view the Republic Day parade.
Italy’s aeronautic acrobatic squad flew low and loud over downtown Rome trailing smoke in the red, white and green of the Italian flag.
The national pride on display is a feature of every Republic Day, but it took on a particular significance this year after Italy ended three months of political and financial turmoil on Friday and swore in a government whose populist and eurosceptic leanings have alarmed Europe.
“It’s the celebration for all of us, of our republic,” he said.
Mr Conte’s Cabinet was sworn in after a last-minute deal averted the threat of a new election that could have turned into a referendum on whether Italy stayed with the shared European euro currency.
The political stability relieved financial markets on Friday but Italy’s European neighbours continued to express concerns about the eurosceptic bent and the heavy spending agenda of Italy’s new government.
“Italy is destroying itself — and dragging down Europe with it,” read the headline of Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, the cover of which featured a forkful of spaghetti with one dangling strand tied up as a noose.
Der neue SPIEGEL ist da! Ab morgen am Kiosk, oder digital einen Monat lang kostenlos lesen mit SPIEGEL+: https://t.co/qN8nTIzw0x pic.twitter.com/Om87G0KISA
— DER SPIEGEL (@DerSPIEGEL) June 1, 2018
While Spiegel is known for such provocations, another article last week drew an official protest from Italy’s ambassador to Germany.
On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Mr Conte and invited him to visit soon. Ms Merkel’s office said both leaders emphasised the importance of continued close bilateral cooperation.
Mr Conte has so far left policy specifics to the drivers of his improbable rise, his two deputies: Mr Salvini of the League and 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio.
Mr Di Maio, the new economic development minister, reported for work after the parade to his ministry, which would have otherwise been closed for the holiday.
“Starting today, we get to work to create work,” he said in a Facebook video giving Italians a tour of the empty ministry.
Eccomi al Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, venite con me!
Posted by Luigi Di Maio on Saturday, June 2, 2018
Offering the new government cautious support was Italy’s small, far-right neo-fascist CasaPound party, which held its own Republic Day commemoration on Saturday.
Banners featured images of a crossed-out EU flag and “#exIT” written underneath, a reference to calls for Italy to leave the 28-nation bloc.
The 5-Star-League agenda has no such plans, but Mr Conte made clear he was irked by comments this week by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said Italy had to stop blaming the EU for its problems and must take responsibility to address the poverty in southern Italy.
“That means more work, less corruption. Seriousness,” Mr Juncker said in comments his spokeswoman later said he regretted.
Mr Conte’s government faces mandatory confidence votes next week in parliament, where the two governing parties have a slim majority.
Republic Day commemorates the day, June 2, 1946, when Italians voted in a referendum to abolish the monarchy in favor of a republic, Italy’s first.
The political upheaval that has created western Europe’s first populist government this week has been dubbed the start of Italy’s Third Republic.
