Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Most Italians want to remain part of the European Union, poll finds

The majority of Italians would like to keep their EU membership, but half are also yearning for a "strongman" leader, according to the latest national Censis poll

Published: 6 December 2019 16:54 CET
Most Italians want to remain part of the European Union, poll finds
A European Union flag hangs in an Italian street. Photo: DepositPhotos

Italians are not in favour of following in Britain's footsteps, with 62 percent saying leaving the European Union would not be a good idea, according to a report released on Friday by Italian research institute Censis.

The 2019 edition of the annual poll found 25 percent of Italians would be in favour of their country leaving the EU bloc.

Italy's membership of the EU is not currently a major topic of discussion within the country, and an “Italexit” referendum is not on the cards despite what is implied by reports in some UK newspapers.

In recent years the issue of Italy's European Union membership was regularly brought up by eurosceptic populist parties, including the Five Star Movement and the League.

However, polls have repeatedly found little appetite among Italians for a referendum on the issue, and the topic doesn't currently get much attention in Italian media or public life.

READ ALSO: No-deal Brexit 'would mean 139,000 job losses in Italy': report

And,all but the most ardently Eurosceptic Italian politicians now seem to have either changed their minds or gone quiet on the issue.

The M5S began backing the country's membership of the EU in 2017, changing tack after years of anti-European rhetoric, and then in 2018 decided they were also in favour of the single currency after all, despite previously blaming it for the country's economic woes.

Membership of the Euro is a more frequently-discussed issue in Italy, but again there is little interest in getting rid of the single currency.

The Censis poll found that 24 percent of Italians think reverting back to the Lira is a good idea. However the majority, 61 percent, said they were against that idea.

READ ALSO: Why is Italy talking about introducing another currency?

Almost half, 48 percent, are against bringing back customs checks within the EU, as they believe it would hamper the free movement of people and goods, while 32 percent would like the border controls back.

Worryingly, the report also said that widespread anxiety among Italians has led to “increasing antidemocratic impulses.”

Italians, struggling to deal with political turmoil and fears about the future amid a sluggish economy, are reportedly yearning for a “strongman who solves everything” to rule over them.
 
The report said 48 percent of people in Italy are in favour of having a “strongman in power” who doesn't need to worry about things like parliament and elections.
 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

EUROPEAN UNION

Italian PM Meloni says will stand in EU Parliament elections

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday she would stand in upcoming European Parliament elections, a move apparently calculated to boost her far-right party, although she would be forced to resign immediately.

Published: 28 April 2024 15:54 CEST
Italian PM Meloni says will stand in EU Parliament elections

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-Fascist roots, came top in Italy’s 2022 general election with 26 percent of the vote.

It is polling at similar levels ahead of the European elections on from June 6-9.

With Meloni heading the list of candidates, Brothers of Italy could exploit its national popularity at the EU level, even though EU rules require that any winner already holding a ministerial position must immediately resign from the EU assembly.

“We want to do in Europe exactly what we did in Italy on September 25, 2022 — creating a majority that brings together the forces of the right to finally send the left into opposition, even in Europe!” Meloni told a party event in the Adriatic city of Pescara.

In a fiery, sweeping speech touching briefly on issues from surrogacy and Ramadan to artificial meat, Meloni extolled her coalition government’s one-and-a-half years in power and what she said were its efforts to combat illegal immigration, protect families and defend Christian values.

After speaking for over an hour in the combative tone reminiscent of her election campaigns, Meloni said she had decided to run for a seat in the European Parliament.

READ ALSO: How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

“I’m doing it because I want to ask Italians if they are satisfied with the work we are doing in Italy and that we’re doing in Europe,” she said, suggesting that only she could unite Europe’s conservatives.

“I’m doing it because in addition to being president of Brothers of Italy I’m also the leader of the European conservatives who want to have a decisive role in changing the course of European politics,” she added.

In her rise to power, Meloni, as head of Brothers of Italy, often railed against the European Union, “LGBT lobbies” and what she has called the politically correct rhetoric of the left, appealing to many voters with her straight talk.

“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian” she famously declared at a 2019 rally.

She used a similar tone Sunday, instructing voters to simply write “Giorgia” on their ballots.

“I have always been, I am, and will always be proud of being an ordinary person,” she shouted.

EU rules require that “newly elected MEP credentials undergo verification to ascertain that they do not hold an office that is incompatible with being a Member of the European Parliament,” including being a government minister.

READ ALSO: Why is Italy’s government being accused of helping tax dodgers?

The strategy has been used before, most recently in Italy in 2019 by Meloni’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who leads the far-right Lega party.

The EU Parliament elections do not provide for alliances within Italy’s parties, meaning that Brothers of Italy will be in direct competition with its coalition partners Lega and Forza Italia, founded by Silvio Berlusconi.

The Lega and Forza Italia are polling at about seven percent and eight percent, respectively.

SHOW COMMENTS