Giorgia Meloni sets out vision for Italy in maiden speech as PM

Italy's newly appointed prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, addressed the country's lawmakers on Tuesday in her maiden speech at the lower house of parliament.

The far-right Brothers of Italy politician was sworn in on Saturday, after the right-wing bloc she leads emerged triumphant in a snap general election last month. 

Meloni already faces a confidence vote, which she is expected to survive given the majority her coalition commands in both parliamentary chambers.

In an impassioned 70-minute address where she defined herself as an "underdog" rising from the fringes of Italy's political landscape, Meloni outlined a vision for the country that commentators have described as blending far-right and progressive elements.

Here are some highlights of the speech. 

Meloni has often faced accusations over her alleged links to Italy's fascist past, which she denies. 

As a 19-year-old activist, she reportedly described Italy's wartime leader Mussolini as a "good politician", while she has praised the founder of the ultra-nationalist Italian Social Movement (MSI) and former Nazi collaborator, Giorgio Almirante.

Meloni's maiden speech saw the newly-elected PM distance herself from Fascism - an act welcomed by more moderate commentators and viewed as "performative" by her critics. 

"I have never felt any affinity for anti-democratic regimes... including Fascism," she said. "The totalitarian dictatorships of the 1900s have torn apart the whole of Europe -- not just Italy -- for more than half a century, in a succession of horrors that has affected most European states."

Meloni denounced Italy's Fascist-era antisemitic racial laws (leggi razziali), introduced by Mussolini's regime in 1938.

"[They] are the lowest point in Italy's history," she