If the European Commission does levy billions of fines against the Italian government (or enforce some other punishment), some “60 million Italians will rise up” against the trade bloc – or at least that’s what a clearly frustrated Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini told a group of Italian reporters following reports that the Commission could move to punish Italy as soon as next week.

The Italian people, Salvini added, would never accept those penalties, according to a report in Italy’s ANSA newswire. And according to the latest polling, there’s more than a little truth to that.

As the 27 EU members who aren’t the UK brace for the inevitable fallout for what increasingly looks to be a bumpy Brexit, one shocking poll revealed that 60% of Italians feel that their country has been mistreated by the European Union. If accurate, that’s several percentage points higher than the percentage of Britons who voted to leave the EU back in 2016.

According to Express, pollsters Coldiretti and Ixè found that some 43% of Italians believe that Brussels’ economic policies were designed by stronger economies with little concern for weaker EU members. And fittingly enough, one of Italians’ biggest concerns about the EU and its unfair treatment of Italy stems from policies related to agriculture.

Two-thirds of Italians believe that the EU’s policies on food damage products made in Italy and only 10 percent believe the Italian agri-food sector is benefitting from EU choices.

A spokesperson for Coldiretti said: “The clear majority of Italians therefore believe that community regulation and the recent choices regarding international treaties are not adequate to guarantee quality, safety but also respect for the gastronomical traditions of Italy.”

But the dissatisfaction runs deeper than food.

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