Don’t lecture Italian voters, Tusk warns senior EU figures
DONALD TUSK, the European Council president, has told senior EU figures in Brussels to stop lecturing the Italians about voting for Eurosceptic parties.
Mr Tusk issued a withering putdown after it was reported that Gunther Oettinger, the EU’S budget commissioner, had suggested that economic uncertainty could teach Italians not to vote for populist parties Five Star Movement and The League.
“My appeal to all EU institutions: please respect the voters. We are there to serve them, not to lecture them,” Mr Tusk wrote on Twitter.
Five Star and The League, which were on the verge of forming a coalition government, have demanded sweeping reforms to the EU and reacted furiously to what they said was Brussels meddling in Italy’s affairs. “My expectation is that the coming weeks will show that markets, that government bonds, that Italy’s economic development could be so drastic that this could be a possible signal to voters not to choose populists from Left and Right,” Mr Oettinger said on television.
“It cannot be a German commissioner to tell how the Italians must vote, neither should it be for any financial speculators. Oettinger took his mask off and he has to resign,” said Laura Agea, the head of Five Star’s delegation in the European Parliament.
“It is only the Italians who decide on the future of their country,” the European Commission’s chief spokesman said after describing the remarks attributed to Mr Oettinger as “unwise”.
Last night, the commissioner said: “I did not mean to be disrespectful and I apologise for this.”
Coalition talks collapsed on Sunday after Sergio Mattarella, the president, vetoed the putative government’s choice for economy minister – an 81-year-old Eurosceptic.
The president has asked Carlo Cottarelli, a former IMF economist, to try to form an interim, technocratic government until fresh elections can be called, possibly in September.
He was expected to reveal his cabinet line-up yesterday but no such announcement was made. The two men are due to meet again today.
The appointment sparked turmoil in the European financial markets.