Italian new PM wins confidence vote at Lower House

The new government of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni cleared a Lower House confidence vote on Tuesday with 368 in favour and 105 against.

In an address to lawmakers before the vote, Xinhua news agency quoted Gentiloni as saying that creating jobs, helping the struggling middle class, and electoral law reform are his government's priorities.

"The priority of priorities will be jobs, jobs, jobs," he said. "We must intervene on the rules to take the country to the vote."

Like the previous administration led by fellow Democratic Party (PD) member Matteo Renzi, the new government will push for changes to the EU Dublin Regulation on asylum seekers at the European Union summit on Thursday.

The regulation says people seeking asylum must be processed in their country of first arrival, which means Italy bears most of the burden because its southernmost islands are the first landfall for refugees from Africa and the Middle East.

"It must be made very clear that the Italian position is not lacking in respect for anyone," Gentiloni said.

"But we can't take on migrant flows for the whole of the EU either," he said.

Gentiloni's government will face a confidence vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

--IANS

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