‘Italexit’ returns as League official renews euro exit campaign
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Matteo Salvini’s far-right League is bringing back its flagship campaign to exit the euro.
The Eurosceptic party’s top economic adviser, Claudio Borghi, who also chairs the budget committee in the lower house of Italy’s parliament, said on television Thursday it would not be “forbidden” to discuss leaving the single currency if the position is supported by “25, 30 percent of voters.”
The League remains Italy’s most popular party, polling at around 34 percent, even though it’s not in government. In August, Salvini pulled out of a coalition with the 5Stars, in hopes of triggering an election. But the populist group instead partnered with the center-left Democratic Party (PD).
Salvini in recent weeks stoked opposition to a revamp of the eurozone bailout fund, which some analysts interpreted as a sign of the party reprising the “Italexit” campaign, which had officially been put to bed during its time in the coalition.
Salvini and Borghi argue that the proposed reform of the bailout fund — the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) — would be damaging for Italy by setting more severe terms for any financial aid. The 5Stars backed their position, threatening to block ratification of the treaty amendment.
Italian Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri, from the PD, on Wednesday tried to persuade his colleagues from around the euro area to reopen negotiations on the changes.
