and the message that mr salvini was this.t it was not just a it was notjust a message to migrants, it was a message to italians. i spoke to a man who knows mr salvini as well as any other politician. earlier i spoke to alessandro morelli. i asked him the same question i asked our friend i asked him the same question i asked ourfriend in rome. is he popular be, populist? >> traffic—macro: translation: of course. the single currency, the other two rules made by people not elected by anyone. populist means antiestablishment and to fight for the people. look, we're sitting here ona park the people. look, we're sitting here on a park bench. this is called populism. being close to the people. understanding their needs and then bringing them all the weight to the top level where the power is. even top level where the power is. even to the european union. many people would see populism as being against what the european union stands for. why do you wants to stay in the european union? translation: we are the real europhiles. because

if one takes one example, that is italy, you've just mentioned mr salvini, you talked about neo—fascismt since mr salvini came to power, and i spoke to him the other day on hardtalk, he actually has abandoned many of his more radical positions, particularly on leaving the eurozone. well, he hasn't. he has strategically placed this on the back burner for a year. and we can discuss this next year. but what he has primarily done is that he has used the same storyline from the 1930s of promising the average italian, whose income has been, per capita, falling for 20 years, there's no doubt about that, to restore his pride back byjuxtaposing him against the foreigner, the migrant, even the italian roma. this is exactly the same as the 1930s, so niall ferguson can... it isn't exactly the same as the 1930s. in italy... i didn't say it is exactly the same, i said a post—modern version of it. thankfully, history does not repeat itself exactly. the point is, you need in a sense, to set this idea up to make the case for your own radical, leftist, progressive politics. and i put it to you that there

but around europe, polling evidence suggests that mr salvini, that marine le pen's party in france, thattries as far apart as poland, hungary, austria, you name it, they have the political momentum. the polls suggest they will be very strong in the next european parliament. bavaria at the weekend, it was the greens who were actually the surprise, if you like, vote—getters. and there are new figures coming out, wednesday you should watch out definitely politics is polarising. i chair the european parliament, and increasingly when i call votes, you see that the extremes on the right and left vote the same way on issues. so it's not just about ideology here. there's something else happening in the body politic. i mean, i would worry about whether the centre can hold. we're seeing the social democrats be quite fractured, and our own epp, christian democrats, that could be a quite difficult election for us. that's point i'm making, that you two, the mainstream blocs, the epp and the european socialists, to many people, according to the opinion polls, not to me, but according to the opinion po

next european elections, the brits won't be voting but around europe, polling evidence suggests mr salviniries like poland, hungary, austria, you name it, they have the political momentum. the polls suggest they will be very strong in the european parliament. in that area at the weekend, the greens were the surprise, if you like, vote getters and there are new figures coming out. wednesday, you should watch out for them, across europe. definitely politics is polarising. i chair the european parliament and increasingly when i'd call votes, you see the extremes on the right and left about the same way on issues. it's not about ideology here. there's something else happening on the body politic. i wonder whether the centre can hold. we've seen the centre democrats quite frank should. our own christian democrats, that could be a quite difficult selection for us. -- quite difficult selection for us. -- quite frank should. the main blocs, the ep and european socialists, too many people, according to the opinion polls, they look like a tired old brussels elite is who have not delivered. you see,

mr. salvini also positive about the government's prospects because of this government being passed >> translator: i'm extremely happen pichlt we're ke happ happy. we're keeping our promises we're not raising taxes of any kind for 2019. >> the measure also have an impact on the government's spending plans and revenue take from taxes any changes include freezing of the taxes, also the universal income is a sizable chunk of the differences in terms of spending plans. i had a chance to try to walk through some of these details in terms of what it may mean, it was said in terms of the economic growth forecast, those are possible but they are taking a bet on their plans to get people spending money through the basic income, and in terms of the assessment they made of borrowing costs in the future, that's where he thinks they'll have difficulties. he used the word optical illusion to describe them. if we see the spreads staying as wide as they have been, it will be difficult for the italian government to service their debt as affordably as they claim to do >> i never heard spreads called an optical ill

mr. salvini talking in rome and italian bonds tumbled, stocks tumbled. move on anxiousness from italian investors. tom: let us get to first word news. here is taylor. taylor: starting in brazil, jair bolsonaro is closing in on the presidency after dominating the first round of voting. bolsonaro wound up with 46% of the vote, just short of the majority needed to win outright. bolsonaro will face fernando had dad in a runoff october 28. brett kavanaugh will be at the end of the supreme court bench tomorrow when he hears his first argument. the newest justice will still be the center of attention. the senate ended one of the most contentious battles over the weekend, narrowly voting to elevate kavanaugh to the high court. he will have to define himself there and win the trust of his colleagues. president trump says he hopes to see kim jong-un in the near future. mike pompeo reported progress in a meeting with kim in pyongyang about a second summit. pompeo's visit was not expected to resolve issues over getting north korea to give up its nuclear weapons. int

mr. salvini previously said if that bond yield spread gets to 400 basis points that would be an unacceptableor rome what that means, not entirely clear. but it seems like that's something he's far more focused on that's his counterpart in the five-star. >> on that point we're at about 340 basis points in that spread now and we had a big re-rating in the last couple of days so he'll be watching out for that spread closely. willem thank you for the latest from brussels on italy you also have been covering brexit as well i want to talk about some comments from the irish prime minister this morning. he has said that the move to a longer transition is not an alternative to legally binding backstop this is the proposal that has come out over the last couple of sessions, some talk that they would be extending the irish backstop proposal by another year to 2021, and that would entail keeping all of the uk in a customs union for an extra year the irish prime minister is now saying that is not an alternative. it's not something that would be digestible for them. he has also said that internal politics

mr salvini also visited the scene of the crime. as you can see, he was given a mixed reception.ing political advantage of human tragedy. but he was also cheered by some. here's what he told reporters. translation: i spoke with the prosecutor of the republican ask for an iron fist. we can arrest people it actually buildings but everyone must do their bit. and an iron fist means not tolerate in fact there are thousands of abusive squatters in rome while thousands are waiting for social housing. bbcjournalist sara monetta has been covering this story, and gave us this update a short time ago. we are getting more information as the investigation goes on. it was seven or eight people party to this gang rape. what happened in a derelict building and from what the investigators are gathering, it was not the first time something like that happens. the girl actually knew the people that rates are because they used to sell her drugs, and so this is a very difficult social background, that we're looking at. the reaction in the neighbourhood has been quite strong. there has been, it's been