quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Makes me want to buy a new Beretta M9A3.

I just did, in black

Note – The new Italian government is a coalition of two parties. “5-Star Movement” (leftist-populist), and “League” (more conservative). Both are anti-migrant, and anti-EU.

‘Five weeks after taking national office, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who heads the right-wing League party, is outshining his coalition rival and fellow deputy premier, Luigi Di Maio, whose 5-Star Movement is the Italian Parliament's biggest party.

Opinion polls indicate that Salvini's anti-migrant, anti-European Union party has soared in popularity since it placed third in Italy's March 4 election. Recent surveys of eligible voters put the League neck-and-neck or even a couple percentage points ahead of the 5-Star Movement.

During the short time the 45-year-old Salvini has occupied his first Cabinet post, he grabbed international headlines with his "Italians come first" politics, ordering Italy's ports closed to private rescue ships and thereby keeping hundreds of migrants stranded at sea.

He also has alarmed European Union leaders by pledging to make a European Parliament election next year a referendum on the legislature he served in for 14 years, and firing up the League's rank-and-file with slogans like "We'll knock down the wall in Brussels." …’

https://hosted.ap.org/thetimes...-partner-partys-show

Maybe the EU is coming unglued.

“Italy's deputy prime minister has accuse the EU of trying to 'swindle' Britain out of Brexit.

Hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini told the Sunday Times Theresa May should be adopting a tougher stance during negotiations - saying she needed to 'impose herself'.

'My experience in the European parliament tells me you either impose yourself or they swindle you,' Salvini said.

Salvini, a former MEP, also said Mrs May should be prepared to walk away if she doesn't get a good deal.

'Because on some principles there is no need to be flexible and you should not go backwards,' he added.

He also said the EU was trying to Punish Britain for leaving the bloc and said there had been 'no goof faith or objectivity' shown from negotiators in Brussels.

Salvini, who has caused controversy with his anti-immigration policies since his appointment earlier this year, said Britain could rely on Italy to be a 'friend' during crunch talks with the EU.

He also said he would be open to holding one-to-one talks with Theresa May if needed.

'I hope the negotiations end well for the UK to serve as an example of the people coming out on top of the EU,' Salvini said.”

https://dailym.ai/2K5ZLhM

Britain better hurry up with the Brexit. There might not be an EU to leave.

The EU is showing signs of how an organization responds when it is being threatened. They’ve used bully tactics to threaten the relative newcomers to the EU such as Poland and Hungary who have adamantly refused to accept their “share” of refugees. Brussels knows it has to play hardball with the UK and Brexit, otherwise it risks other countries following suit. While Eastern Europe lacks the economic clout of Western Europe, they may eventually provide the example of how to stand up to the autocratic thugs in Brussels.

quote:

He also said he would be open to holding one-to-one talks with Theresa May if needed.

Let the cracks in the wall begin to radiate outward.

Some hope remains…

“ITALY's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has lashed out at the EU over the bloc’s migrant crisis, insisting Brussels should be held responsible.

Mr Conte declared Italy will no longer “indiscriminately” accept new migrants as he blasted EU officials for not taking sufficient action towards curbing the problem, which he said now "weighs on each member state".

Speaking in the Senate today, he said: “Italy is no longer available to indiscriminately welcome migrants, although involuntarily contributing to the increase of human trafficking and supplanting the responsibility that belongs to the European Union, blunting the bond of solidarity that weighs on each Member State". 

Following his speech, the Prime Minister was met with a long applause from members of Italy's coalition government: Matteo Salvini's far-right League party, and anti-establishment M5S, led by Luigi Di Maio.

Mr Conte's comments were seen as a nod to Italy's deputy Prime Minister, Mr Salvini’s, who has a long-standing stance against immigration…”

www.express.co.uk/news/world/1...eague-m5s-latest/amp

quote:

Some hope remains…

“ITALY's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has lashed out at the EU over the bloc’s migrant crisis, insisting Brussels should be held responsible.

The EU seems out of favor and out of step with it's "member states"... except for Angela Merkel
Eventually, I think you will see more states withdraw, until the thing crumbles.
It was fine as a "free-trade" area, but it's become an overburdening bureaucracy with no redeeming value. But it's not easy to put the genie back in the bottle.

That may depend. It seems like a surprising number of member states see Angela Merkel as the EU. If they can get Angela to climb down out of the tree then they may actually paper over some of this stuff for a little longer.