FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
German Hysteria over New Italy Government: The End of the Euro Is Nigh!
May 23, 2018 (EIRNS)—The high possibility of a new “debt-making” Italian government composed of the Lega and the Five-Star Movement party is a “nightmare” for Germany, its mainstream media comment; particularly if Paolo Savona should become the new finance minister, the man who says that “the euro is a German prison,” the end of the euro and the Eurozone is near, media warn. An Italian referendum may also be held on the euro. Enough reason for many to become hysterical. Bildzeitung adds another horror to its portrait of the new government: Lega chairman Matteo Salvini is a “fan of Putin.”
IFO Institute for Economic Research director Clemens Fuest, also the chairman of the chief economic advisory council of the German government, said that the future of the euro system is seriously threatened now, urging the financial markets to call the Italians back to discipline. German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) Vice-President Achim Dercks voiced highest concern about the prospects of policies coming from the new Italian government. The CDU’s senior Member of the European Parliament Elmar Brok, is already depicting horror scenarios: “The Italian economy will collapse. The Italian banks will collapse. Many Italians will then try to bring their savings into other countries to protect them from chaos.” Brok warns against any European solidarity with the new Italian government, insisting tough attitudes are required: “The storm signs are up.” Keep in mind that Brok was among those in February 2014 who supported the Maidan stormtroopers against elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, after he withdrew Ukraine from a dodgy alliance with the EU: Is Brok thinking of financial warfare to force a regime-change in Rome, too?
Daniel Caspary, chairman of the CDU-CSU group in the European Parliament, called for EU financial warfare against Italy, should the new government stick to its plans: “If need be, the financial markets will push them back to the path of virtue.” This goes with the expectation that designated new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is a political lightweight against the two heavyweights Macron and Merkel. Financial warfare against Italian banks is already on: Intesa San Paolo lost 12% in share value on the market; Unicredit lost 7.5%.
Some experts, however, for instance at the Brueghel Institute in Brussels, warn that if the EU and Eurozone are turning the screws too much, the Italians may even become more rebellious, and furthermore, that the crisis may spread into Spain and other southern countries, creating a situation which then could no longer be manageable.
