mo4ch:>‘I am not a puppet’: EU war of words erupts as Italian PM rejects Verhofstadt’s claims | Mo4ch News

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte has hit back at claims made by a chief EU lawmaker that he is a “puppet” of his country’s coalition party leaders, after declaring the bloc had “lost contact” with its people.The EU Parliament witnessed ill-tempered exchanges between Conte, who was making his debut speech, and leading MEPs. Guy Verhofstadt addressed the PM, saying that he regrets Italy has gone from being a big defender of Europe “to the back of the line."Also on rt.comYellow Vests are reaction to ultra-liberal policies – Italy’s deputy PMBemoaning what he sees as the “political degeneration of Italy,” Verhofstadt accused Conte of being a “puppet” of the Five Star Movement’s Luigi Di Maio and the Northern League’s Matteo Salvini. He also claimed that Italy, at times, “behaves in an anti-European way, openly spiteful against other member states.”The senior Belgian MEP later suggested on social media that Italy is being unduly influenced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, causing EU divi…