After Brexit: The Battle for Europe - BBC News

Katya Adler meets some of the leaders of the populist Eurosceptic movements and some of the EU’s top Eurocrats and politicians to ask whether the union can survive, or will it be swept away by a populist revolution?

Meet the Clown Prince of Italian Politics (2008)

The Clown Prince (2008): Meet Beppe Grillo, or 'the crown prince of Italian politics'. Disenchanted by decades of corrupt politicians, a porous economy, the mafia and thousands of tonnes of rubbish, Grillo is using humour to shape up Naples.

Beppe Grillo’s Blog »

Beppe Grillo Says Italy May Soon Have to Pull Out of Euro
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Beppe Grillo, the comedian who was the big winner in Italy's election, suggests Italy may have to abandon the euro and go back to the lira, and renegotiate its gigantic debt.

Beppe Grillo, the former comedian who holds the balance of power in Italy, has suggested the country may have to abandon the euro and return to the lire.

In an interview with a German magazine published on Saturday, Mr Grillo said that “if conditions do not change” Italy “will want” to leave the euro and return to its former national currency.

The 64-year-old comic-turned-political activist also said Italy needs to renegotiate its €2 trillion debt.

At 127 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), it is the highest in the euro zone after Greece.

“Right now we are being crushed, not by the euro, but by our debt. When the interest payments reach €100 billion a year, we’re dead. There’s no alternative,” he told Focus, a weekly news magazine. » | Nick Squires | Saturday, March 02, 2013