According to the US ambassador to Italy, John Phillips, the victory of the No vote in the Italian constitutional referendum "would be a step backwards for foreign investment" in our country.
During a meeting on transatlantic relations organized in Rome at the Institute of American Studies, Phillips said that “the referendum is an Italian decision”, but also that it is necessary to “guarantee political stability. Sixty-three governments in 63 years give no guarantee. The vote on constitutional reforms offers hope for government stability to attract investors”. As for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, "he has carried out an important task – added the ambassador – and he is held in the highest esteem by Obama, who appreciates his leadership".
Phillips' intervention aroused the wrath of the 5 Star Movement, the center-right and the left Pd. The former dem secretary Pier Luigi Bersani goes on the attack: "Who does he take us for?". The diplomat's silence would have been golden but one should also ask oneself whether Obama is a progressive leader only when his ideas are shared. Maurizio Gasparri spoke of an "unacceptable interference", while Luigi Di Maio came to compare Renzi to the Pinochet of the coup d'état in Chile (moreover, the grillino had initially committed a gaffe, speaking of "Venezuela").
Meanwhile, Fitch's alarm also arrives: after a possible No victory, any political turbulence or problem in the banking sector could lead to a negative intervention on Italy's rating. “If voters vote No, we would see it as a negative shock to Italy's economy and creditworthiness,” Fitch's head of sovereign ratings for Europe Middle East, Edward Parker, said at a conference in London.
