“My Government Ends Here” Renzi Loses Italian Referendum, Will Offer Resignation

Grazie a tutti, comunque. Tra qualche minuto sar in diretta da Palazzo Chigi. Viva l'Italia!
Ps Arrivo, arrivo
— Matteo Renzi (@matteorenzi) December 4, 2016

To summarize, this is what has happened so yet another major blow to the European political status quo:
Italy PM Renzi lost by a huge margin, with the latest estimate somewhere around 59% voting “No” to Renzi’s proposed constitutional referendum. In a speech moments after the results were announced, Renzi confirmed he would hand in his resignation tomorrow, adding he isn’t available to lead a caretaker government in a blow to many sellside forecasters he would do just that As Bloomberg notes, the scale of the loss and how quickly it happened cast a huge shadow on the fate of the continent headed into 2017. Italy’s opposition parties, from Grillo’s Five Star Movement to Calvini’s “Northern League” to Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, seem to be aiming for early elections as soon as possible, “after making a few tweaks to the current electoral law.” Grillo said this can be done in “one week.” The blow out result of the referendum is a confirmation that anti-euro populists are ascendent in Europe. Expect more long nights in the months to come, especially in France and the Netherlands which are the two next big potential dominoes to fall.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Dec 4, 2016.