Matteo Renzi, the latest technocrat Prime Minister to take power after the EU deposed Silvio Berlusconi, bet his career on a referendum on government changes in Italy and lost:

Matteo Renzi was roundly defeated in a referendum to change Italy’s constitution, marking a major victory for anti-establishment and rightwing parties and plunging the eurozone’s third largest economy into political chaos.

The prime minister conceded defeat in an emotional speech at his residence, Palazzo Chigi, and said he would submit his resignation to Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, on Monday afternoon.

“My experience in government ends here … I did all I could to bring this to victory,” Renzi said. “If you fight for an idea, you cannot lose.”

It was a not an unexpected defeat but it was nevertheless a humiliating one, with about 60% of Italians voting against the proposed reforms, which would have made sweeping changes to Italy’s constitution and parliamentary system. Pointing to the high voter turnout – about 68% of eligible voters cast ballots in the referendum – Renzi said the vote represented a “feast of democracy”.

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The prime minister, who started his political career as the mayor of Florence and was the youngest-ever prime minister when he assumed office in 2014, made constitutional reform a central plank of his premiership and argued for months that the changes would make Italy more stable and likely to adopt tough-but-needed economic and labour policies.

For the uninitiated , the phrase, “Adopt tough-but-needed economic and labour policies,” translates to “F%$# the ordinary working man like a drunk sorority girl.”

And once again, the response of the ruling elites is to see how they can game the system to make sure that they don’t have to face the fallout of their own failures, “The immediate task facing the current government – with or without Renzi – will be to pass a change in the electoral law that will make it far more difficult for either the Five Star Movement or the Northern League to win strong majorities in the parliament in the next election.”

Once again, this is all about the “Brussel’s Class” dividing up the spoils.

The EU has moved toward unification too quickly, it has decided that democratic opposition to its agenda is to be crushed, and the Germans are running the show.

It is a toxic and self-destructive mix, and it likely will force the collapse of the EU.