ROME, June 5 -- The new Italian government led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday won the confidence vote in Senate.
Nearly nine hours after debate started, Italy's Senate, the upper house of parliament, backed Conte's government by a vote of 171-117, mostly along party lines. A total of 25 senators abstained from voting. The outcome was widely expected.
Conte, a 53-year-old political novice, who was formally installed as the head of Italy's government on June 1, would have had to resign if he lost the vote.
Conte will face a similar confidence vote in the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, on Wednesday. A positive outcome there is even more assured because of in that chamber the strength of the Five-Star Movement and the League, the two parties that support his government.
Conte addressed senators for more than an hour ahead of a full day of statements, the prime minister's first formal audience in the Senate. Conte thanked Italians for the chance to serve as prime minister.
He said he would take on the new job "with humility, with determination, with an awareness for (his) limits, but also with passion."
In remarks from senators from opposition parties, Conte was repeatedly criticized. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, now a senator, called Conte's plan for government "unbalanced, "unrealistic," and "damaging." Emma Bonino, a former Italian minister of foreign affairs, said the current political situation represented a "low point" in her parliamentary career that started in 1976.
But in the end, Conte earned more than enough votes to keep the job he has held for just four days.
In his remarks, Conte mostly stayed away from the most controversial issues backed by the Five-Star Movement's Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini from the League, Conte's two deputy premiers who sat on either side of Conte as he spoke.
Di Maio and Salvini campaigned against the European Union (EU) and Italy's obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But Conte called the EU "our home," and said Italy would remain a dedicated member of NATO, with the United States remaining "a privileged ally."
Conte did call for Europe to become more egalitarian in order to "prevent its decline" and said governments should "rethink" sanctions against Russia.
Conte did not discuss the controversial doubts the Five-Star Movement and the League have expressed about the euro currency, or about the 100-billion-euro (120-billion-U.S.-dollar) spending plan that is seen as deepening the debt for Italy's cash-strapped government.
Instead, Conte said he wanted to reduce the country's 2.2 trillion euros (2.6 trillion U.S. dollars) in debt, though he wanted to pay it down "by growing wealth and not with austerity measures."
雅思阅读好方法:45分钟做完,错误率低
雅思阅读技能训练方法
雅思阅读的一点个人经验
阅读8.5分学习经验
雅思阅读判断题Not Given独家分析(中)
IELTS阅读突破必背--介词短语汇总
雅思阅读Summary做法笔记
雅思阅读满分经验谈
如何提高阅读能力
zhangshuo的雅思阅读经验
雅思阅读T/F/NG题型解题原则
雅思阅读应试宝典(英)
雅思阅读8.5分经验谈
雅思summary题型中空格分析
阅读详细回忆-版本号(05124)
平行阅读法介绍
雅思阅读中的几种重要关系
英语阅读学习要点—精读
雅思阅读8分牛人分享备考心得与建议
如何快速完成雅思阅读
雅思阅读考试时间不够如何略读
对付阅读最难题型的笨招
雅思阅读8分经验谈
如何提高雅思阅读速度
变易也,不易也 最新雅思阅读考试分析
阅读难句随身卡基础篇:分割结构(下)
2004-2005雅思阅读文章频率
雅思阅读部分基本技巧谈
一位阅读教师谈雅思阅读备考
05年上半年A类雅思阅读总结
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |