The casualties of referendum in Europe in growing each day, after Brexit claimed David Cameroon, this time it is the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi who resigned late on Sunday night after losing a constitutional referendum. He conceded before official results were announced as exit polls showed he was heading for a heavy defeat.
“My experience of government finishes here,” Mr Renzi told a press conference after the No campaign won what he described as an “extraordinarily clear” victory in the referendum on which he had staked his future.
Italy’s youngest ever premier, Matteo Renzi was just 39 when he took office in February 2014. Renzi had gone from the relative obscurity of the mayor’s office in Florence to running the country.
With virtually all the votes counted early Monday, 59.6% were “no,” according to Italy’s Interior Ministry, marking a stinging rebuke to Mr. Renzi’s plan to overhaul Italy’s legislature to make it easier to pass laws, including measures meant to make the country more competitive.
The result means uncertainty in Italy, the European Union’s fourth-largest economy, as the bloc struggles to revive growth and define its future. Mr. Renzi’s resignation could clear the way for the formation of a caretaker government and, possibly, new parliamentary elections next year.
Among the biggest winners from Italy’s vote is the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement, which campaigned against Mr. Renzi and his agenda, saying more radical change is needed. The party has called for a nonbinding referendum on Italy’s euro membership. It also wants to abandon EU budget strictures and has said it might favor printing a parallel currency.
After 1,000 days in office, Renzi was able to boast last month that he had steered the economy out of recession, got Italians spending again and improved the country’s battered public finances.
