Italian election: 'Slaves of the EU? No thanks!' Frontrunner BLASTS meddling Eurocrats
ITALIAN election frontrunner Matteo Salvini blasted EU Economic Affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici for "interfering" in Italy's election with gloomy forecasts of political instability in the EU member state.
Mr Moscovici said the European Union considers the Italian election one of the biggest "political risks" to the union because of the uncertainty of the results.
Matteo Salvini – leader of The Northern League Party – blasted the eurocrat, saying Italy will once again its sovereignty after the March 4 vote.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Salvini said: "Slaves of the European Union? No, thanks! I can't wait for Italy, with our government, to regains its sovereignty to defend the national interest in any way possible.
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"Unacceptable intrusion from a European bureaucrat in Italy's elections. The immigration policies and economic sacrifices imposed by the European Union have been a disaster and will be rejected by the free vote of Italians. European bureaucrats calm down."
Mr Salvini is expected to be the frontrunner of the newly announced pre-election coalition with Silvio Berlusconi’s party Forza Italia and centre-right party Fratelli d’Italia, in the upcoming general election on March 4.
His strong stance against the European Union drew comparisons to Nigel Farage's view of the Brussels block during the Brexit Leave campaign.
Mr Salvini’s position on the euro caused panic in Brussels when he claimed the currency is a failing experiment that is heading towards “catastrophe”.
During a conference in Paris, Mr Moscovici said the uncertainty surrounding the future leadership of Italy was increasingly becoming a risk to the EU, especially because of the lack of proper political manifestos from any major parties.
He said: "The Italian vote is a political risk for the European Union. Italy is preparing for elections whose results are more than uncertain. What majority will the vote return? What programme and commitment to Europe? In a contest where the Italian economic situation is not the best on a European level, happy are those who can forecast the results."
But in addition to Mr Salvini's rebukes, the EU Economic Affairs commissioners also attracted fierce rebuttals from the President of the European Parliament, Italian Antonio Tajani.
Mr Tajani said: "He is a French socialist commissioner, he does not speak on behalf of the European Union. It’s true that there is concern about lack of stability, but I think there will be a stable government, Italians will go to vote to make this country count more.
“Had I been in Moscovici’s place, I would have been more prudent.”
