As one EU headache subsides in Germany, another starts in Italy

It took barely 12 hours for a collective sigh of relief to turn into a collective intake of breath; less than a day for smiles of European satisfaction to be transformed into frowns of European concern.

At 10.30am on Sunday in Berlin, Germany’s centre-left SPD announced that on a turnout of 72%, more than two in three of its members had voted to approve a fresh GroKo, or grand coalition, with the centre-right CDU and its Bavarian CSU sister party. Their decision ended five months of political uncertainty in Berlin, clearing the way for chancellor Angela Merkel to form her fourth government and move forward on a range of fronts – including ambitious plans for EU and eurozone reform pushed by France’s pro-European president, Emmanuel Macron.

Macron immediately hailed the development as “good news for Europe”. France and Germany, he said, “will work together on new initiatives … to bring the European project forward”.

But shortly after 10pm in Rome, early exit polls from Italy’s general election suggested that just as one big EU member state and major eurozone economy was emerging from political stalemate, another was about to enter it.

Source: theguardian