Italy's Eurosceptics Get 100,000 Signatures for Referendum to Exit Eurozone

The Italian 'Movement 5 stars' collects signatures as the members express hope for a referendum on withdrawal from the Eurozone.

Italy collected more than 100,000 signatures as it prepares a referendum on withdrawal from the Eurozone.

“For the fulfillment of people’s initiative 50,000 signatures were needed, but we decided to triple that number in order to demonstrate the importance of the problem and the seriousness of our intentions. At present we have already collected more than 100,000 signatures, but intend to increase this number to 150,000. I think this result will be achieved by early May. We are hopeful that such a referendum will take place as early as the beginning of 2016,” said Carlo Sybil, a representative of Italy's largest opposition "Movement 5 Stars", RIA Novosti reported.

Sybil said that the idea of a referendum on the withdrawal of Italy from the Eurozone gained momentum among the activists due to a number of factors.

“A lot of socio-economic issues that we raised in the Italian Parliament could not be solved due to the fact that the Eurozone countries cannot implement its own economic, fiscal and monetary policy. As a result, we have a situation in which a number of EU countries may repeat the fate of Greece. In Italy today there are similar progressions and the situation continues to deteriorate."

According to Sybil, the situation is confirmed by the main macroeconomic indicators. Unemployment has reached 12.7% and the decline in industrial production in the last ten years has reached 26%. In 2014 alone, around 125,000 people between the ages of 25 and 40 have left Italy.

Italy’s national debt continues to grow and has reached a historic high of more than 2.16 trillion euros. “Although in the last 30 years, the interest on the public debt was paid in the total amount of 3.1 trillion euros, which is more than all of this huge debt. This is terrible, because as a result the state is unable to finance the economic development of the country, nor the maintenance of social programs,” Sybil added.

The introduction of the single European currency is beneficial only to the banks. “As for the Eurozone countries, only Germany is reaping the benefits from the current situation, while other countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece and even France continue to deteriorate,” the deputy said.

According to a recent poll conducted in early April, the ‘Movement 5 Stars’ is the second most important political force in Italy after the ruling Democratic Party.

Currently, the Eurozone consists of 18 EU member states; the official currency is the euro. Eurozone countries have given complete power in the field of monetary policy to the European Central Bank.