PRESS RELEASE

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Italy Threatens Veto Against EU Budget

Nov. 15, 2016 (EIRNS)—For the first time ever, Italy has threatened a veto on the European Union budget, publicly referring to the "Trump effect" in motivating the action. The Italian government accused the EU of disregarding Italian demands on "immigration, security, youth unemployment and research programs," stated Italian EU minister Sandro Gozi in Brussels, and stressed:

"We are sick and tired of a Europe which is small with big things and big with small things, and we are convinced that if Europe does not change, we are facing the beginning of European disintegration. We need a big shock; the alarm bell rang with the Brexit and we slept; it should ring with Bratislava and we slept; now many say that it is ringing with Trump: if we do not want to die of insomnia, we had better use it to change Europe."

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, speaking in Catania, Sicily, said:

"They wanted to leave Sicilians to take the burden of immigration, of saving thousands of lives and taking care of solutions and of the complexity of the problem. And then, they fill with money European countries that not only reject a deal that they have signed, but build walls with our money."

Many accuse Renzi of electoral propaganda, aimed at winning the Dec. 4 constitutional referendum. This is certainly true; however, Italy’s veto puts an unprecedented stress on the EU and might actually lead to its early disintegration.