Italy was irked Tuesday by European
Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger's saying financial
markets would "give a signal" to Italians not to vote for
populist parties of the right or left.
Italy's two populist parties, the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S) and the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League, led the
reaction but were not alone.
Democratic Party bigwig Carlo Calenda, the outgoing industry
minister, for instance, called Oettinger's intervention
"intolerable" and called for him to apologise or resign.
M5S European Parliament delegation head Laura Agea said
"we ask European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to
immediately contradict Commissioner Oettinger.
She said "his words are of an unprecedented gravity and are
proof of the clear manipulations that Italian democracy has
suffered in the last few days".
League leader Matteo Salvini called for Oettinger's
"immediate" resignation and said: "They are without shame in
Brussels.
"The European budget commissioner, Germany's (Guenther)
Oettinger, says that 'the markets will teach Italians to vote
for the right thing'. If that isn't a threat...I'm not scared
#Italiansfirst".
Italy's permanent representation to the EU said "Italian
voters do not need any lectures, free elections and democracy
are fundamental European values.
"Italian democracy must be respected by all, as always in our
republican history, the Italians will vote in a free and
independent way", it said under the hashtag #respectmycountry.
Fallout on the financial markets will prompt Italians not to
vote for populist parties, Oettinger of Germany said Tuesday,
according to an excerpt from a Deutsche Welle interview to be
published tonight.
"The negative development of the markets will lead Italians
not to vote much longer for the populists," he reportedly said.
Deutsche Welle later issued the full quote as follows:
"My concern and my expectation is that the development of the
markets in Italy, of bonds and the economy, will become so
radical that it could become a signal to voters not to vote for
populists on the right or left".
Oettinger's remark that financial markets might soon teach
Italians not to vote for populists any more was
"ill-considered", European Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker's spokesperson said.
"Juncker has been informed of this ill-considered comment,
and has asked me to clarify the Commission's official position:
it is up to the Italians and only them to decide the future of
their country, and to no one else".
Juncker himself said "Italy deserves respect" and Brussels
"is ready to cooperate responsibly and with mutual respect",
stressing that its fate could not be decided by the financial
markets.
"Italy's fate cannot depend on possible injunctions from the
financial markets," he said.
"Italy, no matter what parties will run it in the future, is
a founder member of the EU which has furnished a huge
contribution to European integration," he said.
Juncker also said he was "convinced that Italy will continue
its European course".
European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to European
institutions to respect Italian voters after Oettinger's
remarks.
Tusk said "my appeal to all European institutions is please,
respect the voters: we are here to serve them, not to lecture
them".
It is not up to the markets to decide Italy's destiny,
European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said.
"Italy is not a democracy with limited sovereignty. It is not
the markets to decide the destiny of the republic but the
citizens with their free vote and the institutions that
represent them. I urge everyone to respect the will of the
Italians. I have full confidence in them"," he said.
Two populist parties, the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the
League, came out on top in the March 4 general election and are
set to score even heavier in the next elections, expected in
September or October.
Deutsche Well's communications chief Christoph Jumpelt
clarified to ANSA that its journalist did not clearly separate
his own assessment from the quotation mistakenly attributing to
Oettinger the view that markets would soon stop Italians voting
for populists.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
