CNN asks “Is Italy’s referendum result the first step towards leaving the EU?”:
(CNN) – After a resounding loss at the polls for his constitutional reforms package on Sunday, Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced his intention to resign.
It has thrown the country into renewed political turmoil, with the prospect of a sixth prime minister in a decade, and has prompted frenzied talk that Italy could follow the UK and hold a referendum on its future in the European Union…
Whatever shorthand word the media settles on — Itexit, Quitaly or Italexit — the stage is slowly being set for a battle over Italy’s place in the European Union. Far-right parties operating in Italy, such as the Five Star Movement party (M5S) and the Northern League (LN), will want to capitalize on the momentum of a “no” referendum victory, and call for Italy’s exit from the eurozone repeatedly in the coming months…
The result will certainly embolden Italy’s two important opposition movements, M5S and NL, which are both explicitly euroskeptic, explains Chris Bickerton, a lecturer at Cambridge University and author of “The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide.” But actually tabling a vote on Italy’s inclusion in the eurozone is still a long way off.
“It’s pretty far-fetched as an immediate possibly,” he told CNN. Instead, Bickerton says, people in Italy are now much more open to voting for parties which themselves run on a much more euroskeptic platform.
