Italian PM Conte to address European Parliament

Today, the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will address the European Parliament in the "Future of Europe" debate.

The President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, Philippe Lamberts, criticizes the Italian government for its short-sighted economic and social policies:

"Italy has the potential to play an exemplary role in the ecological and fair transition of the European economy. For a long time, Italy has been in a difficult budgetary situation and previous Italian governments have not helped much to improve this. However, theatrical and provocative politics betrays the seriousness of the Italian situation. The Italian government should embrace those who believe that the architecture of the Euro needs to be reformed. Building alliances would be much better for Italy than trying to undermine cooperation.

"There are a lot of movements and individuals in Italy that stand for an ecological transition, however these voices are not being heard by the Conte government, which seems to prefer to push for large infrastructure projects like the tunnel in the Suse valley that threaten nature. We are with those who fight for an ecological Italy based on solidarity with strong civil society and we support the appeal 'Onda verde e civica'."

Ska Keller, President of the Greens/EFA group and leading candidate of the European Greens for the European elections adds:

"Italy is the first in line when it comes to the challenge of asylum and migration in the European Union. It is encouraging to see that citizens and more and more local politicians go against the "fortress Europe policy" of the Italian government that abandons hundreds of refugees to their destiny in the Mediterranean Sea.

"Instead of listening to these voices, the Italian government prefers to treat migrants and refugees as responsible for all problems of the country. The European Parliament has adopted an ambitious reform of the Dublin system that the Italian government should support. A fair distribution of refugees within the European Union is the only solution that is fair for both the refugees and the EU Member States."  

More:
Find the appeal "Onda verde e civica" (in Italian).

You can watch the debate live at 17:00 CET.