Premier Giorgia Meloni vowed an “operation truth” on critical issues that had been raised in a Senate debate on the second confidence vote that last night brought her rightwing government’s powers to fruition.

Italy’s first woman premier said critical issues had emerged, as well as “the scant resources we will have at our disposal” to tackle emergencies such as soaring energy bills and a looming recession.

“A reality has emerged, the speeches have helped us to carry out a great operation truth on the conditions of the Italy which we have inherited from those who accuse us,” she said, referring primarily to the centre left opposition.

“It is good that Italians know the conditions we have inherited,” she said, referring to public spending and budget constraints.

She also said that her maiden speech to the House on Tuesday had been criticised for allegedly lacking “concrete responses” to the many challenges it had listed facing the new government.

She said she partly agreed, stressing that “without a vision, responses are ineffectual.”

Moving onto concrete ground, she said she would fight speculation to curb rising energy bills, resume drilling for gas around Italy’s shores, and fund programs by finding budgetary wiggle room and taxing the excess profits of the energy giants in a windfall tax.

Meloni said she would push the EU on energy but was already ready to decouple gas and electricity prices.

She also warned that “we cannot move from a dependence on Russia to one on China.”

Meloni vowed to turn the south of Italy into “Europe’s energy hub” with solar and wind power among other renewable resources.

“Let’s help young people stay in the Mezzogiorno”, instead of having to emigrate for jobs, she said.

On fighting climate change, Meloni warned that Italy could not be “bound hand and foot” to the most polluting nations, and said that Italy and the EU must address the issue together because “the emissions are global.”

On COVID, she said that previous governments had framed policy “without scientific evidence for the measures you were taking”.

Meloni, who gained votes from anti-Green Pass protesters, has already said she would not make the same “restrictive” choices if another wave of COVID hits Italy.

On taxes, where she has promised an amnesty for tax dodgers, Meloni said the government would gradually cut the labour tax wedge by up to five points, two thirds on the workers’ side and one third on the side of businesses.

She also said that hiring people must be made more appealing for firms.

Repeating a vow to introduce an “incremental flat tax”, the premier said this would reward “the merit of those who roll up their sleeves.”

On the 200-billion-euro EU-funded post-COVID National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Meloni said that due to the previous government less than half of the allotted funds, 21 billion compared to over 42, would be spent by the year’s end and it was time to “speed things up.”

She said that the NRRP procedures must be changed due to the risk of tenders being “deserted.”

The premier confirmed that the government would raise the ceiling on cash payments, which “penalises the worse off”, noting that countries like Germany and Austria have no limit to cash payments.

In other remarks, Meloni said the government would up checks and prevention against road accidents.

Referring to allegedly heavy handed policing of a Rome student protest trying to stop “fascists” from her party from speaking at the uni, Meloni said “I never took to the streets to stop others speaking”.

Meloni also said that more assets seized from the mafia should be used for social purposes.

She said that prison overcrowding could not be eased by de-criminalising offences.

Meloni added that “you don’t achieve peace by waving rainbow flags in piazza”.

She also rapped opposition Senator and former prosecutor Roberto Scarpinato for drawing a strained and “ideological” comparison between past rightist terrorist crimes and the government’s plans to introduce semi-presidentialism.

Meloni said peace in Ukraine could only be achieved “by supporting Kyiv” and said that the government would step up the fight against the mafia by defending tough life sentences for convicted mafiosi.

After Meloni’s speech, Senators started making speeches declaring their voting intentions and the confidence vote was expected to be passed around dinner time, making the government fully operational.