Meloni on critics: Italians don’t need lessons from abroad

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy’s new premier, Giorgia Meloni, has laid out her government’s policy plans and shot back at critics at home and abroad over her far-right politics. In a speech to the Italian Parliament’s lower house ahead of a required confidence vote on Tuesday, Meloni also criticized the European Union, saying it hasn’t always been ready for challenges. But she pledged her coalition government would stay loyal to EU accords while working for changes to some of them. Meloni confirmed her campaign pledge to back Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. She sought to allay detractors’ fears that she would undo Italy’s abortion rights law, saying her center-right government “will never limit citizens’ freedom.”