Italian anger at the European Union continues to remain high as a poll released this week shows four in ten would like their country to leave both the euro currency and the political bloc.
The Bidimedia poll showed that while 6.1 per cent said they wanted only to leave the EU and 7.1 per cent said they only wanted to leave the euro, 40 per cent said they back pulling out of both institutions. Meanwhile, 41.7 per cent of Italians prefer to remain in both, Il Giornale reports.
The vast majority of Italians, some 59.9 per cent, said they were against the use of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an EU bailout fund that could loan the country money and has been proposed as a way to combat the effects of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Use of the ESM had also been suggested last December but was heavily rejected by populist Italian Senator Matteo Salvini who said it “would sanction a sale of unbalanced national sovereignty” and claimed that Germany and its banks would be the real beneficiary.
Earlier this month, members of the Five Star Movement, who form the current Italian ruling coalition with the leftist Democratic Party, threatened to bring down Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government if the ESM were used.
“I am saying this clearly: if the government has said yes to the ESM, this majority will no longer have my vote,” Five Star Movement Senator Mario Michele Giarrusso said.
Confidence in Prime Minister Conte is also wavering, with the Bidimedia poll showing 43.9 per cent of Italians have no confidence and 11.8 per cent have little confidence in his leadership.
Just 22.9 per cent said they were highly confident of the Italian leader and another 20.6 per cent said they were satisfied.
The survey reinforces a poll released earlier this month that revealed almost half (49 per cent) of Italians wants to leave the European Union.
The backlash against the bloc led to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issuing another apology to the Italian people last week over the EU’s lacklustre coronavirus response.
“Too many were not there on time when Italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning,” von der Leyen said.