Italy and the European Union: The discontinuity of the Conte Government

This article analyses the approach of the Conte government to the EU and its budgetary and migration policies. Because the Conte government was inaugurated on 1 June 2018, the article will compare its approach to EU policies with the Gentiloni government of the initial five months of the year. On both budgetary and migration policy, the Conte government marked a discontinuity with the previous government, pursuing a declared populist agenda. While the Gentiloni government operated within the EU financial and legal constraints, the Conte government rejected those constraints. However, the populist claims had to face the constraints of interdependence. Particularly in budgetary policy, in fact, the Conte government was forced to find a compromise with the other Eurozone member states and the Commission.