More than 40 per cent of Italians think their country is in trouble because of its eurozone membership, while a further 20 per cent want to leave the European Union, a survey revealed Wednesday, dpa reported. Italy is undergoing the longest recession in its postwar history, but cannot spend or devalue its way out of the slump - as it so often did in the past - because it is locked into a common monetary policy and has to comply with strict rules on deficits. Censis, the country's leading research institute, said it found that 41.6 per cent of Italians agree with the following statement: "The euro is the true cause of our economic and social ills." It also found that 21.5 per cent of the population is convinced that "Italy will be stronger if it leaves the European Union and returns to the lira," its old national currency. Anti-euro and anti-EU feelings were stronger among supporters of former premier Silvio Berlusconi - a populist conservative - and those backing the protest Five Star Movement of satirist Beppe Grillo, Censis said. Its survey also found that 80 per cent of those interviewed criticized the EU as a club dominated by "strong countries like Germany," where Italy had "little clout." Traditionally, Italians have been strongly pro-European, but attitudes have shifted in recent years, as Brussels-mandated austerity policies have been blamed for aggravating the country's recession. Italy's elites, however, remain strongly pro-EU. Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who leads a grand coalition which includes Berlusconi, said in his maiden speech to parliament in April that his "dream" was a United States of Europe.
