European stock markets have opened on the wrong side of the bed once again today. The row between Italy and the EU continues as Italian politicians try to push for next year’s budget with a 2.4% deficit, while the EU is set to turn it down, as comments from European politicians and ECB members suggest.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has refused to comment on Draghi-Mattarella meeting but rumours say that Draghi told Mattarella about risks of a negative market reaction with regard to the budget. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the markets’ reaction if they don’t like the budget: it’s more or less the same as this week.

Just a few minutes ago, the Italian deputy Prime Minister Salvini also popped up saying that Juncker and Moscovici have ruined Europe. He said that Italy is trying to change Europe from within. That comment is directed at Brexit, I suppose.

He also added that the 2019 election for the European Parliament will help with this situation. I also expect a major shift during next year’s elections towards a more populist parliament as opposed to the technocrat one.

As I said, that is hurting the market sentiment and the stock markets are declining again. The Euro is also down and I suppose that it will remain pretty bearish until this mess gets sorted out, which will last at least until next week’s EU summit.