The economic crisis may see Italy abandoning euro and returning to lira, says comedian-turned-politician, Beppe Grillo, who’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement became a major power in the country’s politics after the last week’s general election.
In his interview with German Focus magazine, Grillo urged for
the renegotiation of Italy’s €2-trillion debt, which is the second
highest in the euro zone after Greece, at 127 per cent of gross
domestic product (GDP).
“Right now we are being crushed, not by the euro, but by our
debt. When the interest payments reach €100 billion a year, we’re
dead. There’s no alternative,” the 64-year-old said.
According to the Five Star Movement leader’s forecast, the Italian
political system has "only six months" left before it
collapses and the state will no longer be able "to pay pensions
and public sector salaries".
If there’ll be no changes to the debt obligations, Grillo believes,
the option for his country would be to leave the euro and return to
it's former national currency, the lira.
"If I've bought shares in a company that goes bankrupt, then that's
my bad luck. I took a risk, and lost," he explained, drawing a
comparison with the private market. “If the conditions remain
the same, Italy would leave the euro and return to the
lira.”
The Five Star Movement has attracted the sympathy of nearly a
quarter of the many austerity-weary voters to win 109 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies and 54 seats in the Senate in the general
election on February 24-25. This has created a political
deadlock.
Neither Pier Luigi Bersani‘s center-Left Democratic Party nor the
center-Right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi currently have
sufficient majority in in both chambers to form a government. The
conditions of the parliament’s newcomers is unacceptable to the
established parties preventing the formation of a coalition
government.
"If Bersani's PD and Berlusconi's PDL suggest an immediate
change in the electoral law, cancellation of election expenses
reimbursement, and a maximum of two terms for any deputy – we would
of course support such a government immediately," Grillo said.
"But they won't do that. They are just bluffing to win
time."
"If we get into parliament we would bring the old system down,
not because we would enjoy doing so but because the system is
rotten," he added.
The Five Star Movement has everything it takes to become a huge
headache for the European leaders, who have urged Italy to stay on
the economic course laid out by Mario Monti ‘s outgoing
government.
"Italy, as a major European economy, has a great
responsibility,” Philipp Roesler, Germany's Economy Minister,
was quoted in the same edition of Focus. “There is no
alternative to the policy of structural reforms... I'm confident
that those responsible in Italy recognize the importance of
stability.”
Beppe Grillo was a popular comedian on Italian television in 80s,
but he disappeared from the screen in the 90s, with many suggesting
that his harsh satire was too much to handle for Italian
politicians.
After that he mainly performed in theatres and staged a series of
mass rallies, including the 2007 V-Day celebrations, which gathered
around 2 million people, protesting against the criminal activities
of the Italian political elite.
The Five Star Movement was started by Grillo in 2010 and has made a
splash at local elections, receiving the third highest number of
votes overall and winning the mayoral election for Parma before the
latest success in the general election.
For the Italian government to be able to pass legislation, it must
have a majority both in the Chamber, and the Senate, and to achieve
this majority coalitions are often formed.