As the result of Italians' frustration with the self-serving elite who have ruled Italy for decades, the recent democratic elections in Italy brought to power two anti-establishment political parties, Five-Star and Lega (League), that have solid majorities in both houses. However, the Italian president, an operative for the EU, attempted to appoint the prime minister independently of the election results, tried to himself appoint a "technocratic cabinet" that would ignore the democratic outcome, and succeeded in blocking the anti-establishment winners of the election from forming a government for three months.

EU official Gunther Oettinger said that it was "not acceptable" for Italians to vote for anti-establishment parties and threatened Italians with financial destabilization that would "teach them how to vote."