(29.03.2020)

Conte said anybody who thinks they can force Italy to accept disciplinary terms as a condition for loans – a sort of „Troika“ regime – have gravely misjudged the mood of his nation. Italy will not take the money. “We will do it alone,” he said.

The message is that if there is no EU solidarity when it matters, then it no longer makes sense for Italy to accept EU surveillance and constraints, or for Italy to forgo use of its own sovereign policy instruments in self-defence.