Italy vs the EU

[pancreas]

Interesting article in the FT considering an Italy-free EU.

tl;dr: Italians are calling Germans Nazis because they won't agree to mutualisation of debt.

https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/4ac92260-84d1-408f-a466-24e93f123f85

[idunnosomename]

People in fash houses shouldnt throw stones

[poo]

Can't be arsed reading that obvs but widepspread anti EU sentiment in Italy has been going strong for a while - particualrly since EU's shocking lack of support over refugee crisis. We're ahead of the curve (for the wrong reasons).

[chveik]

if Spain and France agree with Italy regarding the debt, I don't know how Germany can refuse.

[Mr_Simnock]

smash the current EU now and start again with it, ensure we don't have another controlled so heavily by the german finance sector, the games up

[Abnormal Palm]

Maybe Brexit was actually great

[Blumf]

Maybe Brexit was actually great

It sure was. Were you away that day? You really missed out.

[Pijlstaart]

The powers that be tried to have me sent to naples many years ago, but I was wise enough to resist. I don't belong there.

They haven't changed their ways either, I live with an italian and he's always jabbering and spilling moka pot grounds down his front. He hangs languid from his window like one of Dali's melting clocks and he leave stains where he in't meant to. I am the victim in all of this and will not be placated.

[Blumf]

Ze Germans put the boot in:

https://www.politico.eu/article/german-court-lays-down-eu-law/

BERLIN — Germany decides.

That is the message the country's Constitutional Court sent to the European Union on Tuesday as it delivered a landmark ruling on the legality of the European Central Bank's bond-buying programs, a decision many observers say challenges both the independence of the ECB and the authority of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
...
What surprised many observers about the ruling was the ease with which the German court, which reached its decision by a 7-1 margin, decided to throw out the CJEU's earlier conclusions, declaring the Luxembourg-based court's reasoning "not comprehensible" and "objectively arbitrary." To add insult to injury, the Germans characterized the European court's decision as "ultra vires," or beyond its authority.
...
Critics of the German court's move worry that by refusing to accept the CJEU's position, it effectively undermined the court's legitimacy, opening the door for other countries to ignore rulings when they disagree with them.

At a time when the EU is in a clinch with both Hungary and Poland over the steps governments in those countries have taken to roll back the rule of law and democracy, the question is far from academic.

tl;dr - Italy has lots of debt Germany is worried about being on the hook for.

Deuchxit soon! (Deutchfahrt?) Or, more likely, lots of mumbling whilst shuffling papers as everybody tries to pretend nothing happened.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Could we fuck Hungary out of the EU and give their subsidies to Italy? stop funding that fucking dictator

[shh]

Comes at an 'interesting' time for the italian bond market too, little wonder the pm came out publicly to pooh-pooh the judgement (just a couple of days before moody's were deliberating whether to downgrade to junk, which didn't happen in the end).

Debt crisis, refugee crisis, Brexit & coronavirus between them haven't really brought about any lasting sense of european cohesion or integration appetite. If you compare that to the perception of China, there's even now a very palpable sense in europe that things have to change, although what form that will take is anyone's guess (and whether EU can even do it with china's trojan horse in the balkans).

[poo]

👍

[DiClassomo]

Could we fuck Hungary out of the EU and give their subsidies to Italy? stop funding that fucking dictator

Obviously YAAAAAAS and so on to the sentiment, but it doesn't seem fair to the millions who didn't vote for him, nor the expats who'd have to live there again were the country to be fucked out of the EU.

[Paul Calf]

...the millions who didn't vote for him, nor the expats who'd have to live there again...

A few of whom might now, or soon, qualify as political refugees.

[Blinder Data]

china's trojan horse in the balkans).

Eh? What's that?

[chveik]

Eh? What's that?

lmgtfy

https://www.politico.eu/article/johannes-hahn-beware-chinese-trojan-horses-in-the-balkans-eu-warns-enlargement-politico-podcast/

[shh]

This kind of thing
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/18/greece-eu-criticism-un-china-human-rights-record