New PM Meloni warns Italians of economic hardship ahead, supports Ukraine

Giorgia Meloni, Italy's first woman prime minister, has vowed to steer the country through some of the hardest times since World War Two and to maintain support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

Striking a combative tone in her maiden speech to parliament on Tuesday, Meloni said her nationalist, right-wing coalition would make its voice heard in Europe and stressed her opposition to racism and discrimination.

Italy would continue to support Western sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin despite a squeeze on gas imports from Moscow, Meloni said during a wide-ranging speech that lasted more than an hour.

"Giving in to Putin's blackmail on energy would not solve the problem, it would exacerbate it by opening the way to further demands and blackmail," Meloni said.

Forty five-year-old Meloni, head of the nationalist Brothers of Italy, swept to victory last month as part of an electoral coalition that included Forza Italia, led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League.

The government is Italy's most right-wing administration since World War Two and former close ties between Moscow and both Berlusconi and Salvini have raised concerns over its foreign policy.

READ MORE: Far-right, Eurosceptic leader Meloni becomes Italy's first woman PM

'No sympathy for anti-democratic regimes'

Meloni said her government would offer financial support for families and firms hit by the energy crisis, warning that the high cost of this meant her administration might have to delay some of its more costly election promises.

"The context in which the government will have to act is very complicated, perhaps the most difficult since World War Two," Meloni said.

She added that the economy could sink into recession next year as it battled rising inflation and disruption linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine.

Meloni's party has neo-fascist roots but she told parliament that her government would fight any form of discrimination.

"I have never felt any sympathy or closeness to anti-democratic regimes. For no regimes, fascism included," she said.

"In the same way, I have always considered the (anti-Semitic) racial laws of 1938 the lowest point of Italian history, a shame that will taint our people forever."

On immigration, a key issue for her supporters, she said Italy would seek to stop people being smuggled across the Mediterranean and work with governments in Africa to help halt the migrant flows from the continent.

The lower house will hold a confidence vote on the new government later in the day, which Meloni should win comfortably. A similar vote is expected in the upper house Senate on Wednesday.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about Giorgia Meloni - frontrunner in Italian election