Italy’s far-right, anti-EU movement gets boost as controversial leader returns
ITALIAN comic Beppe Grillo has said he is taking back leadership of the anti-EU party Movimento 5 Stelle as the country moves towards a referendum at the end of this year that could oust the current government.
Grillo, 68, helped co-found the party, known in English as the Five Star Movement, in 2010 but stepped down two years ago saying he was “tired”, leaving the day-to-day running to a directorate which was backed by the movement’s co-founder Gianroberto Casaleggio.
Since Grillo stepped down, rifts within the organisation have come to the fore as Casaleggio died in April.
At a rally for its supporters in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, Grillo announced: “I’m back.
"I will be the political boss and I will take decisions because someone has to," he said during a speech broadcast on TV. Earlier, before taking the stage, Grillo said he would take charge at least until the elections.
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The anti-establishment movement, which wants to hold a referendum on Italy’s involvement in the EU, first gained a significant foothold in Italian politics in the 2013 election when it won more than 25 percent of the national vote, just coming behind the Democratic Party.
I will be the political boss and I will take decisions because someone has to
The return of Grillo to political life will no doubt worry the Democratic Party’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, 41,who is facing a referendum on his constitutional reform at the end of the year. If Renzi loses the vote it will make his position untenable and no doubt lead to a general election early in 2017.
The Five Star Movement is opposed to the referendum saying that it concentrates too much power in the ruling administration.
Should the movement gain a mandate it has pledged to hold a referendum on the country staying in the Euro.
Polls in Italy currently have the Five Star Movement as the most popular party.
Grillo has always been a thorn in the side of the establishment. He was effectively banned from appearing on publicly-owned television in 1987 after he attacked the Italian Socialist Party and its leader Bettino Craxi, who was the then Prime Minister.