While it has largely been overshadowed by the British EU Referendum and the US Presidential election, one of the most important geopolitical events this year is set to take place on December 4th 2016.

On that day Italians will partake in a referendum on whether to change their Constitution. The referendum seeks to reduce the power of the Senate and local government in favor of the Executive branch and the Prime Minister. Current Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has literally staked his political future on the referendum passing, repeatedly insisting that he would resign his post if the referendum failed. In a broader sense, he is gambling with the political future of the European Union as regardless of if he resigns, it looks increasingly likely that the surging anti-EU ‘Five-Star’ party will be the winner in the next general election. That would create the circumstances for an ‘Italian-Exit,’ another nail in the coffin for the EU.

In order to better understand the referendum, Real Vision TV has released an interview with Professor Valerio Onida, former President of Italy’s Constitutional Court and Rodolfo De Benedetti, an Italian entrepreneur and chairman of the CIR Group.

Highlights from the interview are embedded below but if you have the time we recommend watching the full (1 hour) interview which can be found here.

Enjoy!