Italy’s Populists May Give Talks Another Shot, as Uncertainty Lingers

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But Paolo Savona, the euroskeptic economics minister Mr. Salvini had insisted on, and whom Mr. Mattarella refused to accept, remained a sticking point.

“It is stunning that Paolo Savona, a person of great cultural depth and political sensitivity, still hasn’t come to the decision to take a step back,” Laura Castelli, a member of Parliament with the Five Star Movement, said Wednesday.

Central to the populists’ case for receiving a mandate from Mr. Mattarella is their assertion that they never wanted to leave the euro. “If the markets fear that Italy leave the euro, it’s because someone put around that rumor that this government wanted to leave the euro, but our will was never that,” said Mr. Di Maio last night.

But the internet is rife with examples of Mr. Di Maio, his party’s founder Beppe Grillo, and other top Five Star officials calling either for a referendum on the euro or for leaving the currency outright.

In one video, a dejected young Italian looks sadly at the euro in his hand and tosses it into a fountain. He then imagines all the buying power he’d have with a 1,000 lire bill. Then the camera focuses on high-heeled boots moving toward him on the cobblestones, and scans up to reveal a top Five Star official, Paola Taverna, appearing like a fairy godmother. She turns the euro in his hand into that 1,000 lire bill, and tells him that the Five Star Movement can make his dreams come true and it is “possible to leave the euro.” A thousand lira would be valued at a fraction of a euro.

Mr. Salvini said this week that neither he, nor his pick for finance minister, wanted to leave the euro. But in prior interviews, Mr. Salvini has clearly stated he wanted Italy out of the euro and has even failed to rule out leaving the European Union.

In a 2016 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Salvini said: “Leave the euro? Surely yes. Tomorrow morning. Once the monetary sovereignty is retaken, one can make a last attempt to renegotiate all of the treaties, Maastricht, Schengen, Dublin and Lisbon.” Those treaties are the lifeblood of the European Union.



Source : Nytimes