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'We Couldn't Take It Anymore.' Italians Deliver Another Blow to EU

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European leaders have been urging calm after the biggest body blow to hit the European Union since Brexit, the British vote to leave the EU.
 
Italians voted Sunday to reject constitutional reforms in what became a symbolic referendum on the European Union. 
 
In voting "no," Italians sent a rebuke to Italy's industrialists, banks and other establishment institutions, which had staunchly backed the referendum.
 
As promised, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned after the defeat. 
 
Stefania Falcone, a Rome resident, said, "I think we are a country that is really good at destroying, we are very good at coming together when it is a chance to destroy the umpteenth ship that is trying to build itself."
 
Giuseppe Gullino said Italians voted against the proposal because "we could not go on any longer like this."
 
"The Italian people cannot take it anymore. If authorities don't understand, then slowly we will make them understand," he said.
 
The vote has energized the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the anti-immigrant Northern League.
 
"The Italian approach is no longer to serve the European Union but to act as equals. Never again a government with these socialists of the European Union. This is clear. Never again servants of a mistaken currency or of a crazy banking system," Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said.
 
During the campaign, the risk of political instability in Italy, Europe's fourth-largest economy, triggered market reaction, with bank stocks sinking and borrowing costs on sovereign debt rising.
 
Meanwhile in Brussels, officials insisted all was still 'well.'
 
"I'm very confident in the capacity of the eurozone to resist all kind of shocks. I think that we have now a very solid system," Pierre Moscovici, European Union commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, said.
 
But there are more shocks on the way. The man who could be the next president of France, Francois Fillon, has said France might tilt more toward Russia.  The most popular party in the Netherlands is Geert Wilders' anti-EU Party for Freedom.
 
The year 2017 should see Europe continue its turn to the right and away from the European Union.
 

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About The Author

Dale
Hurd

Since joining CBN News, Dale has reported extensively from Western Europe, as well as China, Russia, and Central and South America. Dale also covered China's opening to capitalism in the early 1990s, as well as the Yugoslav Civil War. CBN News awarded him its Command Performance Award for his reporting from Moscow and Sarajevo. Since 9/11, Dale has reported extensively on various aspects of the global war on terror in the United States and Europe. Follow Dale on Twitter @dalehurd and "like" him at Facebook.com/DaleHurdNews.