Populists' Ascension In Rome Signals A Severe Blow To European Unity

Now, after two months of uncertainty, Italy seems to be ready for an attempt to have a government, which will be built by the leaders of the country's two biggest populist parties  — the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the ultranationalist League. What is on offer is not a pledge of stability, but a series of question marks that should rattle the EU.

The combined agenda of Luigi Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement, and Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, signals a political earthquake to the vision of a unified Europe centered around common values of human dignity, freedom, and diversity.

''Their joint platform offers an emphatic riposte to the edicts of Brussels, potentially threatens the integrity of the euro zone, promises a hard-line campaign against migrants and extends a hand of friendship to Moscow, writes Ishaan Taroor, in this sharp analysis. 

Now, the populists intend to act boldly. Their proposed reforms include a guaranteed monthly income of close to $1,000 for poor families, tax cuts and a push against E.U.-mandated austerity measures. But it's not clear where the money for these programs will come from, and European officials fear that tens of billions of euros in additional spending could lead to a potentially catastrophic new sovereign debt crisis on the Mediterranean.

Taroor quotes the Financial Times columnist Wolfgang Munchau invoking the historical analogy of Weimar Germany, that Europe's elites underestimate "the scale of the threat that they face."

How the new coalition, if approved, will further feed xenophobia, and possible deportation of immigrants, remains to be seen—anxiety levels, meanwhile, are rising.

Taroor refers to historian David Broder, who observed how voters, animated by nationalist tribalism and a complete lack of faith in the ability of the state, "see their choice increasingly detached from any change of government policy." 

In its "chaos," Broder wrote, Italy "has provided the model for our time."