5th December 2016 - In response to Sunday's Austrian election and Italian referendum results, Syed Kamall MEP, European Conservatives and Reformists leader said:

"Europe was holding its breath for these results and an initial sigh of relief turned into another headache for the EU to deal with. We congratulate the new Austrian President Van der Bellen.

"Over 40 percent of voters choosing the nationalist candidate in Austria must still act as yet another wake-up call. It looks like Europe's leaders are choosing to press the snooze button yet again and lambast those people choosing nationalists, rather than addressing some of their concerns from the political centre-ground.

"Italian voters have issued yet another wake-up call to European leaders. The question on the ballot paper was primarily domestic but it cannot be denied that many Italians were fed up with the government, the mishandling of the migration crisis, and years of slow growth and high unemployment exacerbated by the straitjacket of the eurozone.

"Nobody can say for sure what will happen next, except that Europe's leaders will put their fingers in their ears yet again and find someone else to blame. The ECR group is the only European force that will continue to argue for a serious change in direction for the EU, as the only way to tackle the underlying reasons for this ongoing level of disenchantment from our electors."

Ends  

Contact: ECR Press Office, James Holtum on +32 473 861762; james.holtum@europarl.europa.eu

The ECR was created to take the EU in a new direction, according to the principles of our founding Prague Declaration.

For more information on the ECR, watch our promotional video at http://youtu.be/F5syQt1JuQI or visit our website: www.ecrgroup.eu