Beppe Grillo, the leader of the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), said Tuesday that
Italy must exit the euro to avoid a Greek-style financial
meltdown.
"Let's take back monetary sovereignty and emerge from the
nightmare of bankruptcy via default... to not end up like
Greece," Grillo, who has launched a drive for Italy to hold a
referendum on the euro, said on his blog.
"Out of the euro or default. There are no alternatives.
The interest on the public debt is killing the country and
dismantling the welfare state".
The commedian-turned-politician returned to his popular
blog, which gave life to the Internet-based M5S in 2009, a day
after causing a stir on it by calling for undocumented migrants
to be expelled from Italy if they are not found to be refugees.
"People who enter Italy on migrant boats are perfect
strangers," said Grillo, whose movement captured a quarter of
the vote at last year's general election.
"They should be identified immediately. The refugees should
be accepted, the others, the so-called illegal immigrants,
should be sent back to where they come from.
"People who enter Italy should be subject to an obligatory
medical upon arrival to protect their health and Italian
people's health".
Grillo's hard line on migrants has drawn parallels with the
separatist, rightwing Northern League, which is also calling for
Italy to drop the euro and to halt the arrival of undocumented
migrants.
But Grillo recently knocked back an offer from League
leader Matteo Salvini to meet for talks on the issues the two
parties agree on.
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