Whose Company Does Post-Election Italy Join?

The triumph of right-wing Eurosceptic parties in Italy's general election on March 4 has come after consistent polling data showing the country's population as the most hostile to Brussels on the continent and fuelling fears the country may go down a similar path to Britain, dealing a further blow to the project of European integration. Already several other members of the Union have undergone political transformations putting them at odds with the EU establishment and potentially adding to the list of compounding challenges to the political and economic bloc.

​Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor was among the first anti-EU leaders to emerge as the European Union's economic problems began to manifest after the Global Financial Crisis. A standard-bearer of so-called "Soft Euroscepticism," he has walked a fine line between defying Brussels while eschewing his country crashing out of the Union. In particular he has referred to large-scale immigration from the Middle East and North Africa a "threat to the whole of Europe" and has moved to securitize the country's borders in defiance of the principle of freedom of movement.

​Poland

Like Hungary, Poland has taken an increasing hardline against certain policies championed by the Brussels establishment, including immigration. It has also adopted significantly more conservative social policies, such as severe limits on access to abortion that are not in place in much of the rest of the continent. In a sign of Warsaw possibly beginning to move further away from the orbit of Brussels, Britain in late 2017 proposed a mutual defense treaty between the two countries, claiming that the UK's own exit from the EU would not weaken, but rather strengthen relations between them.

READ MORE: Abandon Euro, Kick Out Illegals: What Italy's Lega May Do With Possible Mandate

Greece

Greece has, in recent years, vied with Italian for the distinction of having the highest level of anti-EU sentiment. The perceived failures of the left-wing Syriza-led government which first opposed and then agreed to implement austerity measures demanded by Brussels, together with whe dramatic contraction in the country's economy and the rapid influx of migrants has seen the rise of far-right and other Eurosceptic parties such as Golden Dawn.