Salvini Urges Italy to Reconsider Membership of European Union

Matteo Salvini, leader of the League opposition party in Italy, has urged the government to reconsider the country's membership in the European Union (EU). That suggestion came hours before the start of the virtual European summit.

Heads of the member-states and premiers will take part in that summit through the video conference technique to avoid direct contact due to the Coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) renamed that virus on March 10 as the COVID-19.

Salvini said, on Thursday, that it is time to rethink of the European rules and to belong to the European Union.

He pointed out that Italy has provided 140 billion Euros to Europe since 1980, omplaining that when Italy needs money, the EU Commission told the Italian government that there was no money in the coffers of the organization.

Salvini grilled the standing criteria of the EU.

He revealed that there are two types of the EU: one includes the northern countries that rejected the idea of European common bonds to confront the financial crisis caused by the Coronavirus. This group comprises  Germany, Netherlands (previously known as Holland) and Austria. These countries enjoy all rights inside the EU bodies.

The second type of the European Union is the southern wing which includes countries such as Italy, France and Spain. These countries burden all financial duties of the organization.

He warned that there is no harmony between the northern and southern groups inside the EU, criticizing the organization as Italy gives a lot of money to the European Union and she is the second industrial power in the old continent (Europe).

Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had repeated his calls for the European Union to issue joint Euro zone bonds to show the bloc's solidarity in the face of the emerging Coronavirus crisis.

He said that the issuance of such bonds is not intended to share former or future Italian public debt, stressing that Germany and the Netherlands should change their views to show that Europe speaks with one language in the era of the pandemic.