Antonio Tajani

Brussels : Italy will spiral into a deep social and economic crisis like Venezuela’s if it leaves the single currency, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has warned.

“Whoever from the ruling majority imagines that leaving the euro will be the miracle cure for our ills wants to take us where Venezuela finds itself today,” Tajani wrote on social media on Friday.

“Only an irresponsible government could want Italy’s exit from the euro and it should immediately clarify where it wants to take the country,” he added.

Tajani’s remarks came after Claudio Borghi, an MP from the ruling eurosceptic League party, suggested Italy should leave the single currency rather than suffer the strictures of existing eurozone rules.

“If Germany wants to continue doing as it pleases in Europe, we are better off leaving,” said Borghese, who chairs the lower house of parliament’s budget committee.

Borghese made the comments in an interview with website Affaritaliani.it on Friday.

—IANS/AKI