//Italy's new populist government-in-waiting resigned on May 28 after its choice of a eurosceptic finance minister was rejected by the country's pro-EU president — who instead asked an unelected technocrat to form a pro-EU government.
The political wrangling ends a bid by Italy's two anti-establishment parties — the left-leaning Five Star Movement (M5S) and the center-right League (Lega) — to form a populist coalition government, which would have been the first of its kind in Europe.
The political situation reflects the stranglehold on power wielded by the pro-EU establishment, which is evidently determined to preserve economic austerity at the expense of democracy.
Italian president Sergio Mattarella refused to accept the nomination for finance minister of Paolo Savona, an 81-year-old former industry minister who has called Italy's entry into the euro a "historic mistake."
In his latest book, "Like a Nightmare and a Dream" (Come un incubo e come un sogno), Savona called the euro a "German cage" and warned that "we need to prepare a plan B to get out of the euro if necessary... the other alternative is to end up like Greece."//
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12399/italy-president-eu