Conte pledges 'new season of reform'

(ANSA) - Rome, September 9 - Premier Giuseppe Conte told the Lower House on Monday that his new government is seeking to bring in a "new season of reform". The premier was presenting his programme ahead of the first of two confidence votes that the executive is set to face in parliament. Conte's second government based on the alliance between the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). The two groups, traditionally fierce rivals, made a pact after League leader and former interior minister Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on Conte's first government last month. Conte said that his new government must be distinguished by "sobriety and rigour so that our fellow citizens can look at the institutions with renewed faith. "All of my ministers and I take the solemn commitment before you to be careful with our words and to use more appropriate language, which is more respectful to people and diverse ideas," added the premier.
    Conte said that the "challenge on the domestic front" is to "broaden the participation in the world of work of segments of the population who have so far been excluded". "These (segments) are concentrated, above all, among young people and women, especially in southern Italy," he said.