Nowadays, a majority of Italians are likely to vote in favor of the exit from the euro bloc. A petition to hold a national referendum on abandoning the single European currency was signed by more than 100,000 citizens. “To make the people's initiative valid, 50,000 signatures were needed, but we decided to triple that number in order to demonstrate the importance of the problem and the seriousness of our intentions. At present, we have already collected more than 100,000 signatures, but intend to increase this number to 150,000. I think the result will be reached in early May,” said Carlo Sibilia, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, who also represents the largest opposition force in Italy, the Five Star Movement. As for the timing, organizers of this campaign are planning to set out the bill of holding the referendum and introduce it to the Parliamentary Committee on constitutional issues in 2016. Obeying the Institute of National Legislative Initiative, opposition leader Carlo Sibilia expects the referendum to take place in early 2016. “The idea of the exit from the eurozone is supported by other parliamentary parties, in particular, by Northern League and Forza Italia by Silvio Berlusconi,” Carlo Sibilia told journalists. The Five Star Movement finished second in the 2014 European Parliament election after the winning Democratic Party. “I hope these forces in the parliament, as well as some of the Democratic Party, associated with the European lobby, will support us,” Sibilia made a comment. The idea to run the nationwide referendum on leaving the monetary union was announced in autumn 2014. Organizers asserted, "It is necessary to return the Italian monetary sovereignty to exit from the nightmare of bankruptcy and default." Otherwise, Italy might be doomed to economic crisis like Greece.
