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Challenging the Euro: The politics of anti-Euro parties in Italy during the first Conte government

ABSTRACT The first Conte government, which led Italy from 2018 until early September 2019, was the first government in the EU to express a negative attitude to the Euro. Both parties that formed the government (the Lega and the Movimento 5 Stelle) opposed the Eurozone and the common currency and repeatedly proposed to take Italy out of the Euro or at least to consult Italian citizens about this possibility. Although anti-Euro proposals disappeared from the Government’s programme, EU institutions and the financial markets perceived a concrete risk of Italexit. The fear of Italexit and the confrontational approach to the EU institutions adopted by the new government generated financial tension and a rise in the spread on Italian government bonds, thereby contributing to internal conflict within the Italian government and its final collapse. This article analyses the rise of anti-Euro sentiments in Italy, their role in shaping the European policy of the first Conte government, and the reasons for the changing attitudes of the Movimento 5 Stelle to the Euro and Italexit during its period in office. This article also demonstrates the relevance of external constraints and the prudent but firm negotiation style adopted by the EU Commission to frustrate the ambitions of radical anti-Euro campaigners. Finally, the article considers the implications the Italian experience will have in the event that other anti-Euro governments take office in Italy or in other Eurozone member states, in particular in those countries where support for anti-Euro parties is growing quickly.