December 5, 2016

Europeans rode an emotional roller coaster Sunday. Up, then down.

The resignation of Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the early hours of Monday signaled what so many had feared, that his referendum on political reforms inside Italy would reverberate across all of Europe.

Hours earlier, European leaders had hailed pro-EU candidate Alexander Van der Bellen's trouncing of nationalist Norbert Hofer in Austria's Presidential election as a victory over nationalism.

French President Francois Hollande tweeted the "Austrian people have chosen Europe."

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said "all of Europe is relieved."

Both men are paying particularly close attention as they, along with the Dutch, face their own elections next year.

In a Europe awash with an apparently infectious populism, how votes go beyond their borders is suddenly very relevant.

Their relief over the Austrian vote was short lived. Renzi's referendum defeat hands Italy's EU skeptics a stronger mandate and possibly enough clout in Parliament or the polls to push their agenda.

Could Italy leave the EU?

The biggest winners will be former comedian turned politician Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement party (M5S). They are anti-EU and want Italy freed from the constraints of the European single currency. It's the sort of change the EU is unlikely to give easily, if at all.

The stage is slowly being set for a possible Itexit.

Renzi had been doing well in the polls until he staked his political future on the referendum. His enemies saw their chance and pounced, and that includes other anti-EU parties like the Northern League, or Lega Nord.

The message for Brussels is clear; if anti-EU sentiment can bring down the Prime Minister then it might surely pluck Italy from the dwindling group of 27 nations.

(Source: CNN)