Behind the scenes: Distrust of EU boils over in Italy's election

“Economically and geographically, Italy is on the front line and it has been pounded,” said Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. “There was a perception that the European Union couldn’t be relied on at that time, and that Italy had been abandoned. That sentiment came to the fore in this election.”

...“Populism does not easily spread in nations that are economically stable and maintain a strong state identity,” Scazzieri said. “We see countries in Central and Eastern Europe where democracies have been new since 1990 and have relatively small economies. Thus populism can easily gain momentum in nations there such as Poland and Hungary. Italy has a large economy, but it has been sluggish for years, and now the nation is facing issues stemming from the influx of immigrants. Both variables have coincided in Italy.”