Just hours after it became clear that Austrians rejected a far-right candidate for president in a closely fought race on Sunday — briefly allaying fears of a general shift toward populism and right-wing politics on the continent– the news broke that Italians voted against a constitutional referendum to streamline and reorganize their government.
The results in Italy led Prime Minster Matteo Renzi to announce his resignation and stirred fears of further trouble for the European Union.
The referendum sought to reduce, stabilize and streamline the government in Rome to help usher in economic changes — the country has witnessed more than 60 governments since the end of World War II. While the referendum question concerned changes to the national constitution, its sound rejection by voters signaled discontent with the Renzi government and opens a path for a government under the populist Five Star Movement.
“We fought with passion from the very beginning, my government ends here today,” Renzi told reporters after the referendum results were called, 40.9 percent for and 59.1 percent against the proposed changes.
The votes held in the two bordering Central Southern European countries were seen to have the potential to further destabilize the European Union, which after the British vote to leave the trading bloc earlier this year, is under increasing scrutiny from its member states. The votes also come amid a string of national election and referenda at which outsider populists — often surprisingly — beat out establishment figures and ideas.
As the votes were tallied, the value of the euro dropped by some 14 percent against the U.S. dollar, only to rebound later on Monday. It was the lowest the euro had been since March 2015.
“Renzi made the big mistake of making this about his leadership,” says Rula Jebreal, a foreign policy analyst and Italian journalist, who noted that Italians are notoriously cautious about giving one person or one party too much political power.
Because of the sweeping nature of the proposed changes — the senate was to be downsized, regional power reapportioned and administrative entities reshuffled — critics of the plan had an easy time making their case, say commentators.
The referendum raised too many questions for voters to feel comfortable, says Daniele De Bernardin, researcher and political analyst at openpolis, an independent Italian political watchdog. “It simply touched on too many things.”
[READ: Gloomy autumn in store for Europe.]
The referendum was first proposed by the outgoing prime minister in April of 2014 in the wake of a significant election win by his party at the European level. But popularity of Renzi and the Partito Democratico, his party, subsequently decreased, while the popular Five Star Movement — one of the major voices against the changes — has seen its standing sharply rise.
“In an era when populist movements are on the rise, populists in Italy are seen to be close to the voters, while Renzi is seen as being close to the elites,” says Jebreal.
After Renzi’s resignation the Italian government will likely be run by a technocratic caretaker government until a new vote can be held and a new government formed. Because Renzi remains head of parliament’s biggest party, he is likely to head the opposition after the next election, despite repeated promises to leave politics if his referendum failed.
In Austria, 53.3 percent of the electorate voted for Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent who had previously led the Green party, and 46.7 percent for Norbert Hofer of the Freedom party. Despite the fact that the Austrian presidency is largely a ceremonial role — the country also has a chancellor — the vote was seen as harbinger of the country’s political future, its policy toward foreigners and its future in the European Union.
The fact that neither of the establishment parties were part of the election — a first in the postwar era — and that this was the third time that the two candidates were facing off, led to unusually acrimonious campaigns.
“Whatever happens, it is a historical vote,” Thomas Hofer, a political commentator, said on Austrian TV on the evening of the vote.
If, once elections are held in Italy, the Five Star Movement does replace the current left-of-center government, much will be learned about the actual politics and governing style of the populist movement, De Bernardin says.
However, many experts agree that though populist, the party does not share all of its ideals with the more far-right populist movements of neighboring countries, such as Austria’s Freedom party, Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom in the Netherlands or Marine Le Pen’s National Front — the latter two having their chance at the polls early next year.
“The Five Star Movement is anti-establishment but they are not xenophobic — it’s not in their DNA,” Jebreal says.
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Italy, Austria Elections Foreshadow a Disorderly 2017 for Europe originally appeared on usnews.com