German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for Europe to push back against far-right parties, saying populist movements wanted to destroy core European values such as fighting corruption and protecting minorities.
Thousands of Italians turned out in Milan on Saturday to support their captain Matteo Salvini, the far-right leader they see as taking their battle against the European Union to Brussels. Ahead of May 26 European parliamentary elections, we want to be an Italian country, with an Italian currency, we want to go back to what we were before, with our dignity and our independence.
Conservative MPs opposed to Theresa May's Brexit plan have met to discuss how and when they could force her to stand down as prime minister. Around 50 members of the European Research Group (ERG) openly discussed how best you game the leadership election rules, a source said quoted by BBC.
A group of more than 600 migrants appear to have become the first subjects of the new Italian government's tough immigration stance without having even set foot on Italian soil. A charity rescue vessel carrying 629 people is currently stranded in the Mediterranean after Matteo Salvini, the new Italian interior minister, reportedly refused to allow it to dock at Italian ports.
Senior Italian politicians on Tuesday called for EU budget commissioner Gunther Oettinger to resign over an absurd comment in which he voiced the hope that the country's poor economic situation will keep populist parties out of government.
Italy's president set the country on a path back to fresh elections on Monday, appointing a former International Monetary Fund official as interim prime minister with the task of planning for snap polls and to pass the next budget. The decision to appoint Carlo Cottarelli to form a stopgap administration sets the stage for elections that are likely to be fought over Italy's role in the European Union and the euro zone, a prospect that is rattling global financial markets.