Analysts at Citi have called a probable Italian referendum on constitutional reform next fall “the single biggest risk on the European political landscape this year,” bigger even than Brexit.
Rome’s new populist mayor, Virginia Raggi, had a half-hour meeting with Pope Francis on Friday, after which she said she had been “deeply impressed” by the pontiff. During their meeting, Raggi played the Pope a video on her tablet, comprising
After taking Rome by storm in a resounding landslide victory in last Sunday’s mayoral race, Virginia Raggi has been unofficially dubbed “Her Majesty the Pope” on greeting her adoring fans with a wave reminiscent of a papal blessing.
Virginia Raggi’s landslide victory in Rome’s mayoral race Sunday was just the tip of the iceberg for Italy’s populist, Eurosceptic Five Star Movement, as the party swept an astonishing 19 of 20 such races in the Italian towns and cities in which its candidates were running for mayor.
Morgan Stanley analysts have said whatever its result, the UK’s referendum will likely boost populism across Europe. Analysts from the financial services corporation have argued that a vote to leave the European Union (EU) will embolden populist parties. They cautioned that
The new mayors from Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement are squaring for a confrontation with financial firms and utilities.
Virginia Raggi, the telegenic populist candidate from Italy’s 5-Star Movement (M5S), has won a landslide victory to become the first female mayor of Rome, defeating the Democratic Party candidate Roberto Giachetti by more than thirty points in Sunday’s runoff election.
The astonishing victory of populist mayoral candidate Virginia Raggi in the first round of elections Sunday in Italy’s capital city signals a radical change in Italian politics, as citizens push out old-line institutional parties in favor of forward-thinking populists. Raggi’s
After decades of corruption, scandal and chronic incompetence have left the reputation of Rome’s city hall in tatters, citizens are rebelling by abandoning traditional political parties in favor of the populist ‘Five Star Movement’, led by a 37-year-old lawyer named
Italy’s acerbic Beppe Grillo may have hung up his political gloves to return to the comedy circuit, but backlash over a bomb joke targeting London’s new mayor has aggravated an identity crisis within his populist Five Star movement. Wild-eyed, outspoken
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to protest in Rome’s Circus Maximus arena Saturday against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government. “As many people as possible must take part,
The centre-left government of Italy has announced plans to ditch laws criminalising undocumented illegal immigrants by direct decree. Opponents have already predicted an “invasion”. Having been criminalised by Silvio Berlusconi’s government back in 2009, and in spite of the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe,
Two Italian senators said to have made gestures suggestive of oral sex to an opposing female colleague during a debate in parliament have been suspended by the Senate’s speaker. Speaker Pietro Grasso took the action against Lucio Barani and Vincenzo d’Anna after receiving complaints about
