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Bruno Maes, who was Portugals EU minister between July 2013 and November 2015 told the Express.co.uk that Italianswere increasingly drawing the link between the countrys economic woes and its EU membership.

Mr Maes said: The big problem is that Italy has not grown since the start of the euro, its been basically stagnant for 16 or 17 years.

This is not sustainable, and of course more and more people are making the connection and asking, publicly, whether the euro is to blame for Italian stagnation.

Italy is not a country that is used to this. It was for decades a fast growing, fast industrialising, high tech economy. You have to make an effort to think back to those years in the 70s and the 60s.

Getty/Express

The former minister, who helped steer his country through the EU sovereign debt crisis, said that Italians often feel their nation is not recognised at a European level.

He said: Its a country that also feels that its size and importance is not being recognised. Its allabout France and Germany.

Every Italian political leader tries to change this. They all fail. So there is some dynamics there, thatarequite dangerous in terms of creating more and more alienation from the EU, so I think that is the country the EU should be concerned about.

Anger at the European Union in Italy has seen the rise of the 5 Star Movement (MS5) founded by former comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009.

Its a country that also feels that its size and importance is not being recognised

Bruno Maes

The movement won a spectacular victory when it helped the no vote win in a referendum on a change of Italys constitution in late 2016.

Italy voted to reject the reform with 59.4 per cent to 40.6 per cent for Yes which saw PM Matteo Renzi stand down. A caretaker PM has taken office with an election due by spring 2018 at the latest.

MS5 has vowed to hold a referendum on single currency membership should they get into power, but has stopped short of calling for a vote on EU membership.

Mr Maes said that problems in Italys banking sector and indeed across Europe are likely to continue despite the spate of bailouts in Italys beleaguered financial sector.

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Now some people think this is birth pains and that everything will get back on track. Im a bit more pessimistic.

Bank problems have not been solved. They are hidden under the blankets because of the easy policy of the ECB, but I think there is always the possibility of them coming back.

If you look at the figures, theyre not good.Non performingloans, bank ratios, these are all very troubling if you look carefully so I think theres alwayspotentialfor problems in the banking sector and weve already seen that in Italy.

He criticised Italys bank bailouts branding its flouting of rules and the acquiescence of Brussels troubling.

I spent so many days, so manyweeks,when I was in government working on the banking union plan, and I was a real believer and in some respects I still am.

I thought this is the right way for the EU to go, not a fiscal union, but this idea of a banking union, and a lot of effort that we spent on the banking union.

Then to see this Italian bailout that really disrespects the rules that were established, that just a week before had beenrespectin Spain is very troubling.

Italy's government was allowed to cut a deal that will cost it 14billion (17bn) as the good assets of failed lenders Popolare diVicensaand Vento Banca are taken over by the country's biggest retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo.

The following Wednesday the MontedeiPaschi bank was bailed out to the tune of4.7billion in the biggest bailout since the financial crisis.

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Italy warns Germany and France fixated EU 'ignore us at your peril' - Express.co.uk