Showing posts with label Italeave. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italeave. Show all posts

Thursday, 19 March 2020

The virus that has exposed the sham of EU solidarity

Although Italy is experiencing one of the most difficult moments after the Second World War, our nation has been left alone by the European Union ...
 
Covid 19 - The virus that has exposed the sham of EU solidarity
Although Italy is experiencing one of the most difficult moments after the Second World War, our nation has been left alone by the European Union despite the Coronavirus emergency being a global emergency and not just an Italian problem. The behaviour of the European Union has been a great disappointment for Italy as the EU has not been able to give a timely and effective response to Italian requests for support.
What is the point of the European Union if, in this moment of need, it does not help a nation like Italy – one of the founders of the EU? The European Union should be doing more from an economic point of view by helping the Italian state (and consequently Italian citizens). We cannot and must not forget that every year Italy pays billions of euros into the European budget, if solidarity is not demonstrated or supplied at this stage of the crisis, there is no reason for Italy to remain a member of the European Union.
In addition to the dramatic health consequences, the effects of the Coronavirus on the Italian economy are serious now but will be even more serious in the medium term. Let’s not forget that Italy is the eighth most industrialized nation in the world. Therefore, our economy is based on a good industrial sector with a strong manufacturing core and on the tertiary sector, including our highly developed tourist sector. However, this is now a large problem for Italy as following the government’s new decree, all businesses that are non-essential – non-utilities – must be closed. Additionally, the Italian economy is reliant on exports and this crisis has had an impact on the whole European economy.
One specific indication of the problematic approach taken by the EU was the recent speech from the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde. The speech was so disconcerting it caused a collapse of the Milan stock exchange and removed billions of euros from the markets. The truth is that the European Union and the ECB only intervened when the virus reached France and Germany with no concern for any other European nation. I echo the calls of the leader of the Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, for Lagarde to resign as she has proved herself unsuitable for the role she plays.
The knock-on effects for the economy security of the European Union will be serious. In addition to Italy – which represents the third largest economy in the EU after France and Germany now that the United Kingdom has left – the Coronavirus is rapidly spreading to the rest of Europe, which means that many other nations will soon find themselves in a similar situation to ours with all the economic consequences. We live in a globalized world where the effects of an economic crisis are likely to have a domino effect and echo across the globe. The risk of a new major financial crisis on a similar scale to that of 2008 is a concrete possibility with all the problems that entails.
We must also consider that even before the Covid-19 emergency the eurozone economy had a very low growth rate and now we will go into recession. When this emergency is over for Italy, and all European countries, it will be necessary to have a serious reflection on how the EU functions since the only real help for Europeans has come from individual nations rather than the supranational body that has tried to claim responsibility for all Europeans.
https://conservatives.global/the-virus-that-has-exposed-the-sham-of-eu-solidarity/

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

George Soros: 'drastic' action needed for eurozone to survive

The eurozone risks lurching towards another major financial crisis triggered by austerity and populist political parties intent on blowing apart the EU, the billionaire investor George Soros has warned.
The Guardian
Richard Partington 30 May 2018
Sounding the alarm as financial markets fell into turmoil on Tuesday amid a deepening political crisis in Italy, Soros said the EU had lost its way since the 2008 banking crash and required radical transformation in order to survive.
“The EU is in an existential crisis. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong,” he said in a speech in Paris.
Having recorded the strongest period of economic growth in a decade towards the end of 2017, Europe appears to be heading for a fresh summer of political unrest for the first time in several years. Investors fear the turmoil could ultimately lead to the demise of the euro, plunging the region into chaos.
The renowned investor's amazing life story: Against all the odds, legendary Hungarian-American investor and mega-philanthropist George Soros escaped Nazi and communist oppression, and went on to create the world's most successful hedge fund. We take a look at the lucky billionaire's incredible life story.The incredible story of the penniless Nazi refugee who broke the Bank of England
Italian bonds dropped sharply on Tuesday, pushing the country’s borrowing costs to the highest levels in more than four years as concerns grew that the EU’s third-largest economy could exit the single currency.
The crisis comes after Sergio Mattarella, the country’s president, vetoed the appointment of a controversial Eurosceptic as finance minister over the weekend, laying the ground for fresh elections later this year.
In Spain, the prime minister Mariano Rajoy faces a vote of confidence on Friday that could further plunge southern Europe into political turmoil.
© Getty composite
While the fresh unrest is likely to embolden eurosceptics who believe the EU is ultimately doomed, including prominent Brexiters in the UK pushing for Theresa May to take a tougher stance against Brussels, Soros said reforms could help save the bloc.
The Hungarian-born investor said an “addiction to austerity” at the heart of Europe was harming economic development, which had in turn been exploited by populist politicians to stoke anti-EU support.
“As a result [of austerity], many young people today regard the EU as an enemy that has deprived them of jobs and a secure and promising future,” he said.
Soros, a prominent supporter of the Remain campaign, said there were still steps that could be taken to make the EU more appealing to ordinary voters, who had been let down by Brussels since 2008.
Calling for an EU-funded Marshall plan for Africa worth about €30bn (£26bn) per year, he said migratory pressures across Europe could be relieved by helping developing nations. He also called for the EU to abandon rules requiring member states to join the euro single currency, lest they eventually combine with other EU rules to “destroy” the project altogether.
Echoing a call made by David Cameron ahead of the Brexit vote, he argued for the EU to allow member states to pursue “multi-track” relations with the bloc, rather than “ever closer union”. That would enable countries to work together in certain areas and diverge in others, helping to address issues of sovereignty.
“Europe needs to do something drastic in order to survive its existential crisis. Simply put, the EU needs to reinvent itself,” he said.
QUICK GUIDE: What are the Brexit options now? Four scenarios
Staying in the single market and customs union
The UK could sign up to all the EU’s rules and regulations, staying in the single market – which provides free movement of goods, services and people – and the customs union, in which EU members agree tariffs on external states. Freedom of movement would continue and the UK would keep paying into the Brussels pot. We would continue to have unfettered access to EU trade, but the pledge to “take back control” of laws, borders and money would not have been fulfilled. This is an unlikely outcome and one that may be possible only by reversing the Brexit decision, after a second referendum or election.
The Norway model
Britain could follow Norway, which is in the single market, is subject to freedom of movement rules and pays a fee to Brussels – but is outside the customs union. That combination would tie Britain to EU regulations but allow it to sign trade deals of its own. A “Norway-minus” deal is more likely. That would see the UK leave the single market and customs union and end free movement of people. But Britain would align its rules and regulations with Brussels, hoping this would allow a greater degree of market access. The UK would still be subject to EU rules.
The Canada deal
A comprehensive trade deal like the one handed to Canada would help British traders, as it would lower or eliminate tariffs. But there would be little on offer for the UK services industry. It is a bad outcome for financial services. Such a deal would leave Britain free to diverge from EU rules and regulations but that in turn would lead to border checks and the rise of other “non-tariff barriers” to trade. It would leave Britain free to forge new trade deals with other nations. Many in Brussels see this as a likely outcome, based on Theresa May’s direction so far.
No deal
Britain leaves with no trade deal, meaning that all trade is governed by World Trade Organization rules. Tariffs would be high, queues at the border long and the Irish border issue severe. In the short term, British aircraft might be unable to fly to some European destinations. The UK would quickly need to establish bilateral agreements to deal with the consequences, but the country would be free to take whatever future direction it wishes. It may need to deregulate to attract international business – a very different future and a lot of disruption.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/george-soros-drastic-action-needed-for-eurozone-to-survive/

Could Italy bring down the eurozone?

Everything you need to know about the Italian political crisis -- which is 9 years in the making and could bring about the demise of the eurozone

Will Martin
30 May 2018

© Provided by Business Insider Inc
  • Italy's political crisis has deepened over the weekend, with a fresh election in the country now a near certainty.
  • Many commentators now believe that the turmoil in the eurozone's third-largest economy has started to pose a threat to the wider euro area.
  • Markets are spooked, with major European assets selling off aggressively.
  • Business Insider looks at how Italy got to this point of deepening crisis.
5-Star Movement's leader Luigi Di Maio© Reuters 5-Star Movement's leader Luigi Di MaioWhisper it quietly, but the eurozone may be about to plunge headlong into another crisis as the political situation in its third-largest economy, Italy, deteriorates rapidly.
Almost three months after an inconclusive election left the country without a government, Italians could be headed back to the polls imminently.
Italy's political situation is notoriously complicated, so Business Insider has tried to break down exactly what's going on and why it's all happening now.

A nation in crisis

Actor, comedian and 5-Star Movement founder Beppe Grillo during a political meeting in Naples in 2013© Getty Actor, comedian and 5-Star Movement founder Beppe Grillo during a political meeting in Naples in 2013The growing crisis can trace its roots all the way back to 2009, with the foundation of the 5-Star Movement, which in less than a decade has grown to be the largest party in Italian politics, winning 222 out of 630 seats in Italy's lower house of government, the Chamber of Deputies, at March's election.
The party's policies don't fit neatly into the traditional left-right political spectrum, something it is keen to emphasise. It is variously antiestablishment, eurosceptic, anti-immigration, and pro-green. Its name refers to its five flagship issues: publicly owned water, sustainable (eco-friendly) transport, sustainable development, right to internet access, and environmentalism.
5-Star's popularity has led it to moderate its stance on certain issues and install a new leader, the 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, who replaced 5-Star's founder, the comedian Beppe Grillo, in October.
© AP
Such political shape-shifting has allowed 5-Star to quickly grow into its position as Italy's largest and most powerful party.
But while it emerged from March's election as the biggest party, 5-Star fell well short of being able to form a government on its own.
This posed problems. For several years the party said it would not be willing to enter into a coalition government or power-sharing agreement with any other party. That is because much of 5-Star's appeal has been based on its rejection of the country's establishment parties, which it believed to be corrupt.
After the party gained a plurality in March, however, the party leader Di Maio relented, sensing the opportunity to govern the country. Over six weeks of talks with various parties followed, until eventually late last week it looked as though a government would be formed by 5-Star in coalition with the Lega Nord, a right-wing party led by Matteo Salvini.
The League, as the party is often known, previously had ties to Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, but it moved toward 5-Star when an opportunity to govern presented itself.
The League and 5-Star's alliance is an uneasy one, but the parties managed to put together a program of government that removed some of the more extreme policies from both sides - like plans to leave the euro - and just about pleased President Sergio Mattarella (who must approve any program of government) enough to govern.
Former senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official Carlo Cottarelli arrives for a meeting with the Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome© Reuters Former senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official Carlo Cottarelli arrives for a meeting with the Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome
Late last week it seemed as though the alliance would be governing Italy with the law professor Giuseppe Conte, a political novice, as prime minister. Mattarella had reluctantly agreed to allow Conte to form a government, and it looked as if months of deadlock were finally coming to a close.
That was until Mattarella began the process for approving the coalition's appointments to key offices within government. Under Italian law, the president can reject the appointment of an elected official.

Trouble with the finance minister

© GettyAll was going well until Mattarella got to the two parties' nomination for finance minister. The coalition had put forward Paolo Savona, a highly eurosceptic economist and former banker who was minister of trade and industry in the 1990s.
Savona has frequently advocated that Italy leave the euro, describing the single currency in a recent book as a "German cage." He has been highly critical of Germany in particular, saying in the book that "Germany didn't change its idea on its role in Europe after the end of Nazism, even if it abandoned the idea of imposing itself militarily."
He also claims that Italy's decision to join the euro back in the 1990s has "halved Italians' purchasing power."
© Reuters
Such assertions were enough for Mattarella, a europhile, to reject Savona's appointment as head of Italy's economic and fiscal policies.
Mattarella told reporters it was important for confidence in broader financial markets that Italy signal an intention to remain part of the euro.
"Membership of the euro is a fundamental choice for the future of our country and our young people," he said.
Mattarella's rejection of Savona as finance minister was viewed as a rejection of the mandate of 5-Star and the League to govern. This caused outrage from the two parties, with Di Maio calling for Mattarella's impeachment. Salvini, the League's head, stopped short of such calls but did criticise Mattarella's decision.
The rejection of the coalition left Mattarella with two choices: call another election or attempt to appoint his own technocratic government.
Mattarella sprung for the second option, on Monday appointing a former International Monetary Fund official, Carlo Cottarelli, as interim prime minister with a task to try to form a new government and bring order to political and constitutional turmoil.
Carlo Cottarelli, a former director at the IMF, has been asked to form a new government in Italy© Reuters Carlo Cottarelli, a former director at the IMF, has been asked to form a new government in Italy
Cottarelli is likely to struggle to form a government, as he will need to have the support of at least half of the country's 630 deputies to rule with any sort of efficacy. Given that the League and 5-Star account for 347 of those deputies and surely will not approve a Cottarelli government, it seems impossible that Italy will have a government anytime soon.
With no foreseeable path to a working government, it looks as if the only option for Italy will be to hold another election, with the most likely outcome of that election being a strengthening of support for 5-Star and the League. Indeed, a poll released on Monday evening showed the League increasing its vote share by almost 5 percentage points from the election.
The Dutch bank ING summed up the situation, with the economist Paolo Pizzoli writing to clients(emphasis ours):
"Should he [Cottarelli] manage to obtain the parliament confidence, he would try to have the 2019 budget approved, and resign before the end of 2018, taking the country to new elections in 1Q19. Instead, should he fail to get the parliamentary confidence, he would resign and remain in office as a caretaker for ordinary business, taking the country to new elections after August. We believe the chances of the government passing the confidence vote are extremely slim, and hold an autumn vote (in September or October) as our new base case.
"It is still too early to understand where the party leaders will position themselves in view of the upcoming election. Chances are that the perceived institutional wound might induce both the Northern League and the 5SM to radicalize their electoral message, but different political possibilities remain possible."
"His chances of succeeding are slim and elections are likely in September," Kit Juckes, a strategist at Societe Generale, wrote on Tuesday morning. "Which leaves us 3-4 months of uncertainty ahead of a vote that may be seen as a referendum on Euro-membership."

Markets are spooked

© RexAny such vote could be disastrous given that Italy is one of the three most crucial members of the eurozone project, alongside France and Germany.
Such an outcome seems to be something that senior figures in the eurozone are taking seriously. According to Yanis Varoufakis, who was Greece's finance minister during the height of the country's latest debt crisis, plans are being made for Italy's exit from the euro, which is being variously known as "Italexit" and "Quitaly."
"I have it on good authority that the German finance ministry, the European Central Bank and every major bank and corporation have plans in place for the possible exit from the eurozone of Italy, even of Germany," Varoufakis wrote in an editorial for the Guardian newspaper.
Perhaps the simplest way to imagine the eurozone is as a three-legged stool. Germany, France, and Italy are the legs holding up the rest of the project. Remove any one of those three pillars and the stool falls over.
Simply put, if Italy goes, it is likely to be curtains for the euro area.
This prospect has markets freaking out on Tuesday, with assets selling off sharply across a broad spectrum. Here's the full wrap from Business Insider's markets team:
  • Yields on Italy's two-year debt rose by almost 50 basis points overnight - the biggest one-day move since 2012, at the height of the eurozone crisis.
  • When European markets opened a short time ago, Italian two-year bond yields continued to rocket higher, climbing by another 70 basis points. They are now sitting at their highest level since 2013.
  • Demand for safe-haven German bonds is increasing, with the yield on both two-year and 10-year German debt falling to its lowest level this year.
  • Reflecting capital flows between Europe's periphery and core, the spread between German and Italian 10-year bond yields has soared to 261 basis points, the highest level in four years.
  • The euro has also come under pressure, dropping below 1.16 against the US dollar for the first time in 2018.
  • Italy's banking index is also getting hosed, down 3.4% at a 13-month low.
Markets do tend to be highly sensitive to euro-exit-related developments, so some of Tuesday's moves may be a knee-jerk reaction, but it certainly feels as if a crisis is brewing both politically and economically.
Analysts at the Australian investment bank Macquarie, however, urged calm for the time being.
"While we see near term market pressure, we do not think that events today are sufficient to derail the economic recovery (activity has been desensitised to political shocks in the past decade), suggesting that markets will soon present a buying opportunity," a team led by Ric Deverell wrote.
Deverell and co. were clear, however, that things could escalate. "A victory for the populist parties in a new election, while far from assured, could trigger a substantial risk-off event," they wrote.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-italian-political-crisis-which-is-9-years-in-the-making-and-could-bring-about-the-demise-of-the-eurozone/

EU fears an Italian 'referendum"

Italy’s Uncertainty Pushes Euro to Fore, the Last Place Europe Wants It

LISBON — Through more than two months of tough negotiations to form a government in Italy after inconclusive March elections, global financial markets remained relatively calm. Italy’s uncertainties seemed contained to Italy, and Europe’s economy kept growing.
The New York Times
30 May 2018
By STEVEN ERLANGER
That changed this week when Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, effectively blocked two populist parties from forming a government. He judged that a crucial member of their proposed cabinet was intent on having Italy abandon the euro, though they had not explicitly campaigned on that issue.
In doing so, Mr. Mattarella may have laid the groundwork for a new election, one that amounts to a referendum on the euro. The European Union and financial markets reacted with dread. On Tuesday, the Dow plunged almost 400 points, the value of the euro plummeted and the cost of borrowing for Italy shot up.
For the European Union, another Italian election would be terrifically bad timing.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a linchpin of the bloc, is weakened; she needed six months to form a government after a rough election of her own last year that was marked by a far-right, populist surge. Spain’s government could face a no-confidence vote as early as this week and possible new elections as well.
However unlikely an Italian withdrawal from the eurozone may be, the mere prospect is more dangerous to the future of the European Union than the bailout of Greece, whose economy is dwarfed by Italy’s; Britain's vote to leave the bloc; or the squabbles over the rule of law with Hungary and Poland.
Italy is a founding member of both the European Union and the euro and the bloc’s fourth-largest economy, and psychology counts.
After all, it was Brussels that warned Greece in 2011 that a proposed referendum on its bailout and the euro would actually be a referendum on membership in the European Union itself. That was enough to cause Greece to back down. It did so again four years later.
a group of people sitting in chairs in front of a crowd: Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, left, remains weakened after needing six months to form a government.© Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, left, remains weakened after needing six months to form a government.But the common currency is not without its problems. The European Union plunged into the euro without having either the economic institutions to fully manage it or full political integration. Member states gave up their authority over monetary policy, often to deleterious effect at home.
Today, not only will the issue of sovereignty not go away, it keeps roaring back with a vengeance, just when populism in Europe’s core countries seemed to have been kept at bay.
After the shock of Britain’s vote in 2016 to leave the European Union, the bloc seemed unexpectedly steady. Italy had a pro-Europe government for several years. Spain and Portugal were growing again. France’s anti-Europe presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, was defeated. Even the populist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Greece was grudgingly holding the line on spending in order to stay in the eurozone.
But the turmoil in Italy makes clear that anti-European populism has not gone away, and that the euro is in the cross hairs.
Mr. Mattarella has turned to a former International Monetary Fund official to be a caretaker prime minister and form a government. But even he seemed to have hit a wall late Tuesday evening, making the prospect of another election — as early as July or September — more likely.
Matteo Salvini, the fiery leader of the League, the populist party that is strong in Italy’s north, has made opposition to Brussels, and occasionally the euro, a standard in his campaign speeches.
His putative coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio, leader of the populist Five Star Movement, has been sharply critical of Brussels, but has lately rejected a referendum on the euro, despite having previously floated the idea.
a group of people on a city street: Pensioners demonstrating in Athens last month. In 2011 Brussels warned Greece that a referendum on its bailout and the euro would amount to a vote on E.U. membership. Greece backed down.© Angelos Tzortzinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Pensioners demonstrating in Athens last month. In 2011 Brussels warned Greece that a referendum on its bailout and the euro would amount to a vote on E.U. membership. Greece backed down.Mr. Mattarella, moderate and pro-Europe, was clearly skeptical of their intentions, and he vetoed Mr. Salvini’s pick of an economy minister with openly anti-euro views, in the name of economic stability.
In doing so, Mr. Mattarella has given Italians, exceptionally, the same option built into the French election system — two rounds of voting — the first to vote your heart, and the second to vote your head. In France, Ms. Le Pen did well in the first round of presidential voting last year; she was soundly defeated in the final round.
Mr. Mattarella is gambling that Italians may do the same, if the populist parties can be made to surrender their ambiguity on the euro — an issue they skirted through the Italian campaign.
As of November, a poll by the European Commission, the bloc’s bureaucracy, showed that nearly 59 percent of Italians preferred European economic and monetary union with a single currency, the euro, while 30 percent were opposed.
The risks of leaving the euro have always been a reason Italy has stayed in. But the country has not done well with the euro, by some measures, and so the question now is whether a public frustrated by two decades of stagnation is ready to take a gamble of its own and bolt.
As demonstrated by the Brexit vote, which numerous analyses showed would not be good for Britain’s health, economic logic does not always prevail.
Like Ms. Le Pen, Mr. Salvini may discover after a public debate that despite anger at Brussels over migration and the problems of the euro, Italians, like the French and the Greeks, are afraid to leave it.
a statue of a man and a woman standing in front of a building: Tourists at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Italy today accounts for 15.4 percent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product and 23.4 percent of the bloc’s public debt.© Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times Tourists at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Italy today accounts for 15.4 percent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product and 23.4 percent of the bloc’s public debt.But Mr. Salvini has also proved himself adept at playing populist passions and has again made opposition to the euro and its “elite” supporters central to his politics.
Many analysts believe that Mr. Salvini, whose League has risen in the polls, will do well in a future election, and some think he sabotaged this coalition government to get to new elections.
He is expected to use Mr. Mattarella’s attempted appointment of a technocratic — if temporary — prime minister to reinforce the League’s anti-elitist message and portray himself as standing up against anti-democratic forces beholden to Brussels, Berlin and the bankers.
The euro may have originally been a project of the political elite, and it may indeed benefit Germany, but the consequences of leaving it would be big. Those would be likely to include a devalued Italian currency that would savage Italian savings accounts overnight and increase the country’s already large burden of debt.
That is one reason Mr. Mattarella argued that any decision to leave the euro should come only after a major public debate, not by stealth.
Then there is the potential damage to the European Union itself. The bloc has moved since the Greek crisis to create backstops for the euro, so the currency would almost surely survive an Italian exit and manage the economic contagion. But the damage to the idea of Europe would be severe.
Italy’s confusion about its political and economic future — and its already large stock of nonperforming loans — are more reasons Germany will continue to refuse to mutualize eurozone debt and provide bank deposit guarantees across the eurozone.
a person sitting in front of a store: Many analysts believe that Matteo Salvini, center, whose political party, the League, has risen in the polls, will do well in a future election.© Tony Gentile/Reuters Many analysts believe that Matteo Salvini, center, whose political party, the League, has risen in the polls, will do well in a future election.As Holger Schmieding, chief economist of Berenberg, an investment bank, points out, “Size matters.” Italy today accounts for 15.4 percent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product and 23.4 percent of the bloc’s public debt.
By comparison, he said, at the start of the Greek crisis in 2009, Greece contributed only 2.6 percent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product and today accounts for only 3.3 percent of eurozone public debt.
Italy’s cumulative debt is more than 130 percent of gross domestic product, more than twice the eurozone’s requirements, and it is denominated in euros. Having to repay that debt in a devalued currency would be a major struggle and would badly harm Italian savers and investors, who hold most of it.
The Italian crisis also has other implications, said Ian Lesser, vice president for foreign policy at the German Marshall Fund and head of its Brussels office.
“The political debate in Italy has taken on an increasingly critical tone toward Germany, speaking directly to Italian anxiety over German power in Europe,” Mr. Lesser noted. That anxiety is shared widely, not just in Greece but in other populist-run states like Hungary and Poland.
And a prospective populist government “is not only deeply anti-E.U. but with a lot of sympathy toward Russia and without traditional Atlanticist instincts,” Mr. Lesser said.
Italy is a key member of NATO and has important naval and air bases for Middle East operations. “It threatens key elements of continuity in Italian politics, in both the European and trans-Atlantic sphere,” Mr. Lesser said.
European Union arrogance could also play an important political role.
On Tuesday, the European Commissioner for the budget, Günther H. Oettinger, a German, told the broadcaster Deutsche Welle that the markets and a “darkened outlook” would teach the Italians to vote for the right thing.
They may yet do so, but it’s impolitic to say so, especially for a Brussels-based German.



The markets and a "darkened" outlook will teach 's voters not to vote for populist parties in the next elections, told me commissioner in my exclusive interview for @dwnews in Strasbourg. "I can only hope that this will play a role in the election campaign."
One of the first to point out the offense was Mr. Di Maio himself, who in his own message on Twitter called the remark “absurd.”
“These people treat Italy like a summer colony where they come to vacation,” Mr. Di Maio wrote. “But in a few months a government of change will be born and Europe will finally respect us.”

"I mercati vi insegneranno a votare". Le parole del Commissario europeo sono assurde. Questa gente tratta l'Italia come una colonia estiva dove venire a passare le vacanze.
Ma tra pochi mesi nascerà un governo del cambiamento e in Europa ci faremo finalmente rispettare


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/italy%E2%80%99s-uncertainty-pushes-euro-to-fore-the-last-place-europe-wants-it/