The vote in italy - a vot for independence

If you've ever worked and lived in Italy, you'd know that the real reason for the failure in the polls has more to do with vehement dislike of Germany, than the EU in general!

The outgoing leader stuck strictly to austerity rules, viewed (probably correctly) by the electorate as German rules......... and the Italians are not about to let the Germans control them again!

I was surprised to find, when working in Northern Italy, that the (dare I say) hatred of all things German dates back to beyond the World Wars, to the days of the Hapsburgs and beyond. The rank dislike is reciprocated in Germany, where the Germans treat Italian Gastarbeiters like dirt!

The dislike gets in the way of business between the two countries, to the detriment of both. I was, while working there, tasked with getting a fleet of vehicles modified with very precise navigation equipment of German manufacture. It was a relatively simple operation........... My team installed the kit and the German Technicians just needed to fly down from Munchen, to calibrate it all.......... a simple transaction, so one might think.........

HOWEVER! I had to load the entire fleet on transporters and get them shipped, at huge cost, up to the Manufacturer's headquarters in Germany!.......... The reason?........... According to the manufacturer their technicians were TOO AFRAID to travel to Italy! (surprising in view of the huge numbers of German tourists one meets every day in Italy!)..........

Subsequent conversations indicated the refusal to travel was an executive decision............. typical German bad customer service.............

The result, of course, was that, as the project progressed, the German interests were frozen out and it became basically a Nationalistic expression of independence.........