Italy's populist premier calls EU immigration plan a failure

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte declared Europe's immigration policy a "failure" and demanded for it to be renegotiated as he outlined a heavy-spending policy agenda of Italy's populist "government of change" today.

In his first policy address, Conte readily acknowledged that the coalition government made up of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and right-wing League marks a radical shift from the Italian status quo.

"If 'populism' is the attitude of leaders to listen to the people, ... and if 'anti-system' means introducing a new system that removes the old privileges of power, then this government deserves both these descriptions," said the premier, who was sworn into his first political office Friday.

Conte responded to concerns about the xenophobic League's rhetoric, insisting that Italy "isn't racist" and accepts its responsibilities to welcome and integrate legitimate refugees.

But he said the rest of the European Union must take on a greater burden of accepting refugees, as well as negotiating with migrants' home countries and helping send back those who don't qualify for asylum.

Making his own the League's demand for a crackdown on the human smuggling networks and organized crime that has infiltrated Italy's migrant welcome centers, Conte declared: "We will put an end to the business of immigration that grew disproportionately under the cloak of a pretend solidarity."