What I meant specifically is that Italy elected a government that promised - and wanted to implement - a currency parallel to the Euro, and then the Italian pre

What I meant specifically is that Italy elected a government that promised - and wanted to implement - a currency parallel to the Euro, and then the Italian president exploited a loophole (effectively claiming there was no agreement between the parties that made up the government) to avoid putting this government in power. He made it no secret that this is exactly why he did that. So Italians wanted a parallel non-EU-controlled currency in Italy and elected a government to do that, and this was denied, by a pro-EU politician. This was already a do-over election of sorts so that makes it even more of a farce. Several BIG costs have to be carried by the Italians as a result. First, the actual monetary cost already paid: 1.5% on 6.5 billion euros, or about 100 million euros, effectively charged to them by the ECB. This will keep growing. Second is the fact that there is no government in charge, and the legitimacy of the "experts" (picked -surprise !- by pro-EU parties) that will be in charge until the next election (July or September) is heavily in question, and that government's only loyalty is to the Italian president who got kicked out by the electorate. Of course, several EU commissioners have called out for punishment of Italy for these election results, and although Oettinger has now apologized, it shows you just what kind of people they are. All of that, just to protect the EU. Again.