Brussels has tried to justify Brexit by the fact that Britain is an island state that will never be able to fully commit itself to the continent. But such claims would no longer work when Italy turned its back on the EU.
This was reported by the agency “Bloomberg” on Tuesday, April 21.
The media noted that Italy had previously flirted with European scepticism. In particular, the migration crisis contributed to this: when the country was flooded with migrants from Africa, other EU countries were in no hurry to show solidarity. When the country was affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic, Italy was still hoping for support. As it turned out, in vain, writes Bloomberg.
“Italy was in love with the European project and he fell in love with it”, – commented Marc Lazar, a history professor at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. – “I don’t know if Europe can regain that trust”.
The coronavirus in Italy has been replaced by an “epidemic” of anger against the European Union. These sentiments are shared even by politicians. Polls among the population show that Italians consider China a friend and Germany has become their enemy. At the same time, 59% of participants in one of the surveys said that the EU no longer makes sense.
“If Italians do not see a positive result, there will be growing European scepticism or anti-German policy, which could be rooted in the deep psychological past of our country”, – said Deputy Finance Minister Pier Paolo Baretta. – “In our historical memory, Germany has always been an enemy in difficult times.