Italy's efforts to form government fail as president defends euro

[webfact]

Italy's efforts to form government fail as president defends euro

By Steve Scherer and Crispian Balmer

 

Italy's Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte leaves after a meeting with the Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Italy, May 27, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

 

ROME (Reuters) - Efforts to form a coalition government collapsed on Sunday after the Italian president rejected a eurosceptic pick for the key economy ministry, triggering a possible constitutional crisis and opening the prospect of fresh elections.

 

The leaders of the two parties trying to field a government, the far-right League and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, accused President Sergio Mattarella of abusing his authority and working under the orders of European powers.

 

5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio, whose party won the most seats at an inconclusive March 4 vote, demanded that parliament impeach Mattarella, raising the spectre of political turmoil in the euro zone's third biggest economy.

 

Financial markets tumbled last week on fears the mooted coalition would unleash a spending splurge and increase Italy's already huge debt mountain, which is equivalent to more than 1.3 times the nation's domestic output.

 

Looking to allay investor concerns, Mattarella vetoed on Sunday the choice of 81-year-old economist Paolo Savona, a vocal critic of the single currency, to the pivotal economy post.

 

Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte promptly abandoned his efforts to form a government.

 

In a sombre, televised speech, Mattarella said he had accepted all the suggested ministers bar Savona.

"I asked for that ministry an authoritative political figure from the coalition parties who was not seen as the supporter of a line that could provoke Italy's exit from the euro," he said.

 

Shortly afterwards, he summoned former International Monetary Fund (IMF) senior official Carlo Cottarelli for a Monday morning meeting -- an indication he may be considering asking him to head a government of unelected technocrats.

 

VOTER ANGER

Cottarelli would be a calming choice for the financial markets, but any technocrat administration would likely only be a short-term solution because the majority of parliamentarians have said they would not support such a government.

 

If he failed to win parliamentary backing, Cottarelli would stay in office in a caretaker capacity ahead of elections that would most likely be held in September or October.

 

Polls have suggested that the League, which won 17 percent of the vote in March, would see its support surge in any early ballot, while support for 5-Star remained strong. Mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties were seen losing further ground in the face of voter anger over the sluggish economy.

 

League leader Matteo Salvini responded furiously to Mattarella's refusal to rubberstamp Savona.

 

"If there's not the OK of Berlin, Paris or Brussels, in Italy a government cannot be formed. It's a folly, and I ask the Italian people to stay close to us because I want to bring democracy back to this country," Salvini told reporters.

 

News of Mattarella's veto sent a shockwave through Italy.

 

The leader of the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, which had an electoral pact with the League, said the head of state should be impeached, accusing him of abusing his position.

 

"We will ask parliament to charge Mattarella with high-treason because he has acted under foreign pressure," Brothers of Italy chief Giorgia Meloni said on La7 television channel.

 

The 5-Star's Di Maio also demanded impeachment under article 90 of the constitution. Under that clause, parliament can demand a president leave office if a simple majority of lawmakers votes in favour. The constitutional court would then be called to decide whether to impeach or not.

 

"After tonight, it's truly difficult to believe in the institutions and the laws of the state," Di Maio said.

 

EXPERIENCE

On Friday, the closely watched gap between the Italian and German 10-year bond yields, seen as a measure of political risk in the euro zone, was at its widest in four years at 215 basis points.

 

After markets had closed on Friday, Moody's said it may downgrade the country's sovereign debt rating because of the risk that the would-be government would weaken public finances and roll back a 2011 pension reform.

 

Facing Mattarella's veto, Savona tried on Sunday to allay concerns about his views in his first public statement on the matter.

 

"I want a different Europe, stronger, but more equal," Savona said in a statement.

 

He also said his position on debt was the same as that forged by the potential coalition allies in their programme - which says it will be reduced not through austerity or tax cuts, but through targeted investments and policies that boost economic growth.

 

Savona has had high-level experience at the Bank of Italy, in government as industry minister in 1993-94, and with employers' lobby Confindustria. But his critical stance on the euro has been the focus of concern.

 

In Sunday's statement Savona did not mention his opinions on the euro, but more than 70 slides outlining a "plan B" for Italy's exit from the euro, co-authored by Savona in 2015 with a dozen others, circulated on social media.

 

(Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, Massimiliano di Giorgio, Giselda Vagnoni, Stefano Bernabei, Stephen Jewkes and Valentina Za ; Editing by Susan Fenton and Richard Balmforth)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-28

[The Renegade]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

Italy's efforts to form government fail as president defends euro

Think that needs a revised headline

 

25 minutes ago, webfact said:

Italy's efforts to form government thwarted under pressure from the EU

The EU will now oversee the installation of a Pro EU puppet Government, against the wishes of at least 50% of the Italian electorate.

 

Democracy EU style in all its glory.

 

Quote

“If there’s not the OK of Berlin, Paris or Brussels, a government cannot be formed in Italy. It’s madness, ” Salvini told reporters.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics/italys-president-calls-in-former-imf-official-amid-political-turmoil-idUSKCN1IS0VA?il=0

 

Yes, what a great idea it is to remain tied to that shower of shoite in Brussels.

[Grouse]

I would not recommend modifying the OP.

[roobaa01]

very good now lega nord and the 5 stars will gain even more support in order to delete the eussr dictatorship.

 

wbr

roobaa01

[soalbundy]

2 hours ago, The Renegade said:

Think that needs a revised headline

 

The EU will now oversee the installation of a Pro EU puppet Government, against the wishes of at least 50% of the Italian electorate.

 

Democracy EU style in all its glory.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics/italys-president-calls-in-former-imf-official-amid-political-turmoil-idUSKCN1IS0VA?il=0

 

Yes, what a great idea it is to remain tied to that shower of shoite in Brussels.

either that or a bankrupt state considering their mad spending plans. They haven't done themselves any favours as it is, the ECB now won't be allowed to buy up Italien bonds as there is no certainty that they can buy them back with the borrow madmen in charge. There was a good article in Der Spiegel this morning.

[peperobi]

Is already 70 years that Italy have no a right government and is looking like that will be for the next 70 years too.

[The Renegade]

4 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

either that or a bankrupt state considering their mad spending plans.

Debt to GDP ratio of 132%

 

€450 Billion in IOU's to Germany through Target 2.

 

Banks still not coming clean about bad loans.

 

It is already a bankrupt State, even after 19 years of being a member of the €.

[soalbundy]

11 minutes ago, roobaa01 said:

very good now lega nord and the 5 stars will gain even more support in order to delete the eussr dictatorship.

 

wbr

roobaa01

That is possible unless the Italien voter considers what it would be like to live in Venezuela and be paid with toilette paper. Should the 5 star win big it is generally accepted that massive amounts of money would leave Italy to be parked in Germany. In fact Der Spiegel even went so far as to consider what would happen if the Euro collapsed, a huge rise in the value of the new DM which could only be favourable for my German pension but I suspect that the Italians have taken a look at the bond yields and stock prices and will vote with their wallets.

[The Renegade]

Quote

Italy is mired in fresh political turmoil, with the president facing impeachment calls after he vetoed a choice for finance minister.

President Sergio Mattarella said he could not appoint Paolo Savona, a strong eurosceptic, citing concerns from investors at home and abroad.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44275781

 

A potential Government collapsed because of '' Concerns by Investors '' Enjoy your impeachment.

 

Investors should never be able to overrule the electorate or elected officials.

[soalbundy]

8 minutes ago, The Renegade said:

Debt to GDP ratio of 132%

 

€450 Billion in IOU's to Germany through Target 2.

 

Banks still not coming clean about bad loans.

 

It is already a bankrupt State, even after 19 years of being a member of the €.

It's like 'yes minister' it's alright as long as nobody talks about it, take away the ECB from their backs and suddenly everyone will start doing their sums and it wont look pretty.

[soalbundy]

4 minutes ago, The Renegade said:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44275781

 

A potential Government collapsed because of '' Concerns by Investors '' Enjoy your impeachment.

 

Investors should never be able to overrule the electorate or elected officials.

Can we stay realistic please, no investor is going to either invest or leave his money in a state that will drop the armour protection of the ECB and adopt the Lira, they aren't telling the electorate what to do on the contrary, they would turn their backs on them and walk away. Would you lend money to someone who is virtually bankrupt and shown themselves to be financially irresponsible ? This is a job for Jesus Christ. 

[The Renegade]

12 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Can we stay realistic please, no investor is going to either invest or leave his money in a state that will drop the armour protection of the ECB and adopt the Lira,

So you believe that investors should be able to thwart a Countries Democratic process ?

 

I think it is you who needs to get real.

[Baerboxer]

57 minutes ago, The Renegade said:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44275781

 

A potential Government collapsed because of '' Concerns by Investors '' Enjoy your impeachment.

 

Investors should never be able to overrule the electorate or elected officials.

 

I don't think those joining the Euro at its inception ever realized the cleverness of the German plan to control it and create massive debt, which they'd bail out, for a price and control.

 

It's been a great example of German thoroughness.

 

Greece, Italy, wonder which one will be next. And poor France sits smugly thinking their on top with the Germans. 

 

 

[Baerboxer]

46 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Can we stay realistic please, no investor is going to either invest or leave his money in a state that will drop the armour protection of the ECB and adopt the Lira, they aren't telling the electorate what to do on the contrary, they would turn their backs on them and walk away. Would you lend money to someone who is virtually bankrupt and shown themselves to be financially irresponsible ? This is a job for Jesus Christ. 

 

So you are for government by investors, banks, bankers, financial institutions having the power to over rule the people, the elections and decide what's best for them?

 

Yes, right, we can really trust the bankers, can't we?

[soalbundy]

26 minutes ago, The Renegade said:

So you believe that investors should be able to thwart a Countries Democratic process ?

 

I think it is you who needs to get real.

They are protecting their own interests, their own money, the Italian investors will no doubt take a deep patriotic breath, wish Italy all the best and avoid bankruptcy by parking their money where it is safe and investing where they can make a profit, after all we aren't communists. If the Italians wish to trust there future to an ex-clown and an ex-waiter it is their democratic right to do so but it is also the democratic right of an investor to freely be able to decide where to invest. I doubt if you would be happy if your pension fonds manager decided to leave your money that you entrusted to him in Italy at this time.

I read an interesting article which said that the Italians voted for change, 'for something else', not necessarily for a disaster.

[Morch]

4 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

They are protecting their own interests, their own money, the Italian investors will no doubt take a deep patriotic breath, wish Italy all the best and avoid bankruptcy by parking their money where it is safe and investing where they can make a profit, after all we aren't communists. If the Italians wish to trust there future to an ex-clown and an ex-waiter it is their democratic right to do so but it is also the democratic right of an investor to freely be able to decide where to invest. I doubt if you would be happy if your pension fonds manager decided to leave your money that you entrusted to him in Italy at this time.

I read an interesting article which said that the Italians voted for change, 'for something else', not necessarily for a disaster.

 

"I read an interesting article which said that the Italians voted for change, 'for something else', not necessarily for a disaster."

 

This seems to apply to quite a few countries nowadays.

[The Renegade]

9 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

They are protecting their own interests, their own money,

Ever heard of Caveat Emptor ?

 

Ever heard of the Value of your investment may go up as well as down.

 

This is not about whether investors will lose money, this is a clear case of investors thwarting a democratic process.

 

Following your logic, get rid of all Governments and let investors run riot.

[soalbundy]

17 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

I don't think those joining the Euro at its inception ever realized the cleverness of the German plan to control it and create massive debt, which they'd bail out, for a price and control.

 

It's been a great example of German thoroughness.

 

Greece, Italy, wonder which one will be next. And poor France sits smugly thinking their on top with the Germans. 

 

 

There is also the little matter of good industrial management, expertise, prudence and producing quality products that people want to buy. I doubt that there was some Machiavellian plan produced across party lines to control Europe's finances, Western politicians are too short sighted for that and I suspect that with it's unbroken chain of vast past experience our civil service and intelligence services are better than their's. Money is like a shy deer, it runs to where it feels safe. 

[soalbundy]

29 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

So you are for government by investors, banks, bankers, financial institutions having the power to over rule the people, the elections and decide what's best for them?

 

Yes, right, we can really trust the bankers, can't we?

No, it's just what happens everywhere, cause and causality, frighten a deer (money) and it will run, the people can stick by their principals of course, nobody is denying them choice.

[Guest Jerry787]

the President of Italy, did a very good thing, so next election Liga and 5Stele will get 70% of majority of votes and in such time the President can resign and re locate to Berlin as guess its italian citizenship will be cancelled

[soalbundy]

12 minutes ago, The Renegade said:

Ever heard of Caveat Emptor ?

 

Ever heard of the Value of your investment may go up as well as down.

 

This is not about whether investors will lose money, this is a clear case of investors thwarting a democratic process.

 

Following your logic, get rid of all Governments and let investors run riot.

I don't think investors give two figs about democratic process let alone thwarting it, they are responsible for other people's money, not for politics. If a government is stable with accommodating policies for investment they will invest there, be it an apartheid state, a communist state or a dictatorship, they will also upsticks immediately they feel their money could be threatened, finance managers are in many ways more farsighted than the politicians governing a country because they only have two concerns, safety and profit, if either is threatened it's goodbye, money isn't patriotic, it is purely logical.

[soalbundy]

12 minutes ago, Jerry787 said:

the President of Italy, did a very good thing, so next election Liga and 5Stele will get 70% of majority of votes and in such time the President can resign and re locate to Berlin as guess its italian citizenship will be cancelled

You can't have your born nationality cancelled, he did warn the party that he wasn't a rubber stamp and would do his duty in the interests of the country, it's his job. He also said that he wouldn't sign any financial statutes that weren't balanced, the coalitions financial policies are anything but balanced.

[The Renegade]

13 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

I don't think investors give two figs about democratic process let alone thwarting it, they are responsible for other people's money, not for politics. If a government is stable with accommodating policies for investment they will invest there, be it an apartheid state, a communist state or a dictatorship, they will also upsticks immediately they feel their money could be threatened, finance managers are in many ways more farsighted than the politicians governing a country because they only have two concerns, safety and profit, if either is threatened it's goodbye, money isn't patriotic, it is purely logical.

Something that you should try and get your head around.

 

Quote

"I want this institutional crisis to be taken to parliament... and the president tried," Mr Di Maio said.

"Why don't we just say that in this country it's pointless that we vote, as the ratings agencies, financial lobbies decide the governments?"

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44275781

 

The electorate decide Governments, not investors, financial institutions or the EU.

[webfact]

Italy's president calls in former IMF official amid political turmoil

By Steve Scherer and Crispian Balmer

 

FILE PHOTO - Italian President Sergio Mattarella speaks to media after a meeting with Italy's Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Italy, May 27, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

 

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president is expected to ask a former International Monetary Fund official on Monday to head a stopgap government amidst political and constitutional turmoil, with early elections looking inevitable.

 

President Sergio Mattarella summoned Carlo Cottarelli to his office after two anti-establishment parties angrily abandoned their plans to form a coalition in the face of a veto from the head of state over their choice of economy minister.

 

In a televised address, Mattarella said he had rejected the candidate, 81-year-old eurosceptic economist Paolo Savona, because he had threatened to pull Italy out of the euro zone.

 

Markets rallied on the news that Italy's economy, the euro zone's third-biggest, would not be guided by a government hostile to the single currency.

 

"The uncertainty over our position has alarmed investors and savers both in Italy and abroad," Mattarella said, adding: "Membership of the euro is a fundamental choice. If we want to discuss it, then we should do so in a serious fashion."

 

Financial markets tumbled last week on fears the coalition being discussed - a marriage of the far-right League and the populist 5-Star Movement - would unleash a spending splurge and dangerously ramp up Italy's already huge debt, which is equivalent to more than 1.3 times the nation's domestic output.

 

After the coalition's collapse, Italian bonds, stocks and the euro rallied. Europe's single currency pulled off more than 6-month lows, and the closely watched gap between Italian and German 10-year bonds tightened nearly 15 basis points. Italy's stock market opened up 1.5 percent.

 

The League and 5-Star, which had spent days drawing up a coalition pact aimed at ending a stalemate following an inconclusive March vote, responded with fury to Mattarella, accusing him of abusing his office.

 

5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio called on parliament to impeach the mild-mannered Mattarella, while League chief Matteo Salvini threatened mass protests unless snap elections were called.

 

"If there's not the OK of Berlin, Paris or Brussels, a government cannot be formed in Italy. It's madness, and I ask the Italian people to stay close to us because I want to bring democracy back to this country," Salvini told reporters.

 

SHORT-TERM SOLUTION

While he had approved all their other ministerial picks, Mattarella said he had the right to block nominations that could harm the country. He added that the League and 5-Star had refused to put forward any other name for the role.

 

Shortly afterwards, the president's office summoned Cottarelli, the IMF's former director of fiscal affairs, for a meeting on Monday. Such a call is usually a prelude to being offered a mandate to form a government. No time was given for the meeting.

 

Cottarelli would be a calming choice for the financial markets, but any technocratic administration would likely only be a short-term solution because the majority of parliamentarians have said they would not support such a government.

 

If, as expected, he fails to win parliamentary backing, Cottarelli would simply ferry Italy to elections that would most likely be held in September or October. It would be the first time in postwar Italian history that such a re-vote was needed.

 

On Monday, Salvini said in a radio interview he would seek parliamentary support from 5-Star to change the electoral law. The current purely proportional system produced a hung parliament two months ago, and polls suggest it could happen again.

 

The League, which won 17 percent of the vote in March, would surge in any early ballot, polls show, while support for 5-Star remained strong, above 30 percent.

 

Mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties were seen losing further ground in the face of voter anger over the sluggish economy, high unemployment and rising poverty.

 

Demanding an immediate ballot, Salvini told followers on Facebook: "It won't be an election, it will be a referendum between Italy and those on the outside who want us to be a servile, enslaved nation on our knees."

 

However, Salvini dismissed calls on Monday by 5-Star and a far-right ally, the Brothers of Italy, to chase Mattarella out of office.

 

"We will ask parliament to charge Mattarella with high treason because he has acted under foreign pressure," Brothers of Italy chief Giorgia Meloni said on La7 television channel.

 

The 5-Star's Di Maio demanded impeachment under article 90 of the constitution. Under that clause, parliament can seek to remove a president if a simple majority of lawmakers votes in favour. The constitutional court would then be called to decide whether to enforce the decision.

 

"We need to keep cool. Some things cannot be done in the throes of anger," Salvini said.

 

The centre-right Forza Italia party and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) both denounced calls for impeachment.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Steve Scherer; Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, Massimiliano di Giorgio, Giselda Vagnoni, Stefano Bernabei, Stephen Jewkes, Valentina Za and Giulia Segreti; Editing by Alison Williams)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-28

 

[The Renegade]

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

Italy's president calls in former IMF official amid political turmoil

They can call in who they like, the damage is already done.

 

The next election will be what they commonly refer to as a landslide.

[soalbundy]

12 minutes ago, The Renegade said:

Something that you should try and get your head around.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44275781

 

The electorate decide Governments, not investors, financial institutions or the EU.

No, in the end it is always the money because the voter will decide for bigger pensions, early pension age, better social security, less taxation etc. whether the country can afford it or not. Investors will look carefully at the policies, do the maths and if they decide that the country can't afford it they will run.

[arithai12]

59 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

You can't have your born nationality cancelled, he did warn the party that he wasn't a rubber stamp and would do his duty in the interests of the country, it's his job. He also said that he wouldn't sign any financial statutes that weren't balanced, the coalitions financial policies are anything but balanced.

In Italy the president doesn't have a lot of power, like in France or US. In the specific case, the constitution gives the president the power to veto a name proposed to be a minister, ONLY if there are objective reasons to make him unsuitable. For example if he has a record of not being honorable or trustworthy. The president CANNOT veto a person on the basis of "increase in the italy-germany spread", which is what he brought as a reason.

 

Whether the plan (contract) proposed by the two parties trying to form a govemerment was reasonable or not, in terms of spending etc, can be discussed but the president implicitly accepted it when he gave a mandate to Mr Conte. And by the way, again it's not his business to check what the two parties intend to do, only to verify that they can form a reliable government with a majority. All other prior governments have never put on a table a written and signed plan before being in power, afaik.

 

The president has clearly overstepped his powers and should be subject to impeachment. In any case, as already stated, his move was really stupid since the only outcome is a delay in the formation of a government (and the spread is simply going to get worse, it already is today), and subsequent elections which in all likelyhood will make those two parties even stronger.

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by arithai12

[soalbundy]

21 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

In Italy the president doesn't have a lot of power, like in France or US. In the specific case, the constitution gives the president the power to veto a name proposed to be a minister, ONLY if there are objective reasons to make him unsuitable. For example if he has a record of not being honorable or trustworthy. The president CANNOT veto a person on the basis of "increase in the italy-germany spread", which is what he brought as a reason.

 

Whether the plan (contract) proposed by the two parties trying to form a govemerment was reasonable or not, in terms of spending etc, can be discussed but the president implicitly accepted it when he gave a mandate to Mr Conte. And by the way, again it's not his business to check what the two parties intend to do, only to verify that they can form a reliable government with a majority. All other prior governments have never put on a table a written and signed plan before being in power, afaik.

 

The president has clearly overstepped his powers and should be subject to impeachment. In any case, as already stated, his move was really stupid since the only outcome is a delay in the formation of a government (and the spread is simply going to get worse, it already is today), and subsequent elections which in all likelyhood will make those two parties even stronger.

 

very informative

[bristolboy]

9 hours ago, soalbundy said:

Can we stay realistic please, no investor is going to either invest or leave his money in a state that will drop the armour protection of the ECB and adopt the Lira, they aren't telling the electorate what to do on the contrary, they would turn their backs on them and walk away. Would you lend money to someone who is virtually bankrupt and shown themselves to be financially irresponsible ? This is a job for Jesus Christ. 

There are 2 issues here. One is the Euro and the other is fiscal irresponsibility of the Five Star and the Lega. Getting free of the Euro is not in itself in irresponsible act. In fact, it allows economies a lot more flexibility. The Euro is a straitjacket. It doesn't allow the natural work of independent currencies to evaluate the strength of one nation's economy vs. another. So if an economy is mismanaged the currency gets weaker, which makes it harder to purchase from abroad but easier to export. But with the perverse structure of the Euro, were Italy to suffer some kind of economic collapse, that would actually depress the vallue of the Euro and strengthen the export capacity of the German economy. Eventually the Italian economy would deflate to compensate, but as as has seen in the previous collapse, it takes years and years to accomplish this via deflation. In fact, people in Spain, Portugal, and Greece are still suffering over this. Whereas if they had their own currency. they would have suffered a bad bout of inflation, which would have reduced their consumption and increased their exports. And done it relatively quickly.

[The Renegade]

Well done President Mattarella, a stunningly astute you pulled off.

 

Quote

But now the two parties, who were rivals in the March vote, are weighing whether to join forces ahead of a fresh election seen in the autumn or early next year.

“The upcoming elections will not be political, but instead a real and true referendum ... between who wants Italy to be a free country and who wants it to be servile and enslaved,” League leader Matteo Salvini said on Monday.

As rivals they polled a combined 53% of votes at the last election. How high will that number jump ?

 

Quote

The election is going to resemble a referendum, de facto, on the European Union and the euro,” said Francesco Galietti, head of political risk consultancy Policy Sonar in Rome. “It’s an existential threat for the entire euro zone.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics-euro-election-analysis/italys-fresh-election-risks-being-referendum-on-euro-idUSKCN1IT1IF

 

If the EU and the € are so great, why would anyone want to leave it ?