Italy’s big referendum happens next Sunday. It’s about reducing the powers of the Senate to streamline the operation of government, but it has become a referendum on Prime Minister Renzi’s leadership and, in many eyes, on Italy’s membership of the EU.
That’s been given a much sharper edge by the rise of the right-wing, anti-Europe Five Star Movement in the polls, and the election of Donald Trump in the United States, as well as the Brexit vote in the UK. But even if Renzi loses next Sunday’s vote, and then even if he resigns and there is an election that Five Star wins (which still looks unlikely) it would be very hard for Italy to have EU referendum because its constitution forbids it.
Italy’s Five Star Movement Is Gaining On The Democratic Party
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