ROME (AP) — Premier Matteo Renzi told lawmakers on Tuesday that his first foreign trip as Italy’s leader will be to Tunisia, not Brussels or Berlin, though he underlined Italy’s place in Europe.

Renzi’s plan to make Tunisia his first visit as premier, and not strategic European capitals, was a clear signal of discontinuity with Italy’s last two governments, which emphasized ties with Europe even as ordinary Italians bristled at austerity measures imposed at the EU’s behest.