Italy's right-wing parties set out programme for power

Italy's right-wing parties, heading for victory in September elections, released a plan for government Thursday, promising low taxes, "defence of the homeland", EU reform and support for NATO and Ukraine.

The 15-point programme, entitled "For Italy", is "centred on the national interest and the homeland, on economic growth and on the defence of families' purchasing power", the party leaders said in a joint statement.

Opinion polls put Giorgia Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy on course to lead the eurozone's third largest economy after the September 25 vote, in a coalition with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi and anti-immigration leader Matteo Salvini.

But Meloni's populist, eurosceptic rhetoric, and the long-standing ties to Russia of both Berlusconi and Salvini, have sparked concern both inside and outside Italy at what direction they might take.

The programme pledges to respect Italy's commitments to the NATO military alliance and keep supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion, while backing diplomatic efforts for peace.

"Italy, fully part of Europe, the Atlantic alliance and the West," reads item one on the list.

The parties promise "full adherence to the European integration process", but seek a "more political and less bureaucratic" bloc -- and call for a "review" of EU rules on public spending and economic governance.

They also raise the prospect of changing the reform plan already agreed with the European Union in return for almost 200 billion euros in post-pandemic funds, based on "changed conditions, needs and priorities".

Italy's economy bounced back last year from the devastation of Covid-19, but it now faces soaring inflation and a potential winter energy crisis linked to the Ukraine war.

JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ROOTS

Meloni proudly describes herself as a woman, a mother and a Christian, and the programme calls for the defence and promotion of "Europe's classical and Judeo-Christian historical and cultural roots and identity".

It also promises to stop the migrants who arrive in their tens of thousands each year on Italy's shores in boats from north Africa, proposing EU processing centres outside the bloc for asylum applications.

Elsewhere, the parties back outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi's efforts to reduce Italy's reliance on Russian gas and increase renewable energy production, while raising the possibility of a return to nuclear power.

They promise to reduce and simplify taxes, alongside measures to address Italy's declining birth rate, including job protection for young mothers.

There is a pledge to change the constitution so that Italy's largely ceremonial president is no longer elected by parliament, but by the public.

And there are others on judicial reform, including to "stop media trials", a long-held concern of Berlusconi who has faced legal proceedings throughout his long career.

Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief brought in to lead Italy in February 2021, resigned last month after his governing coalition -- which included Berlusconi and Salvini -- collapsed.