Former IMF Official Nominated As Interim PM; Ireland Votes Overwhelmingly To Repeal Abortion Ban.
GORANI: To Italy now where there is a major political crisis and it could affect Europe. The populist parties who won the election haven't been able to form a government, and this comes after the country's president refused to endorse a Euroskeptic finance minister. Instead he's asked a former IMF official, a bureaucrat, Carlo Cottarelli, to be interim prime minister until fresh elections next year. Confused? Barbie Nadeau explains.</s>BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): The latest resort for Italy's political crisis is a man they called Mr. Scissors. No, not this one. This one, Carlo Cottarelli, a former director of the International Monetary Fund, who earned his nickname "Mr. Scissors" for his severe cuts in public spending has been given a mandate to form a caretaker government that will guide the country towards a new election. He knows global markets are worried, but he says the economy is growing adding that he would guide a moderate government where in his role in the European Union remains essential. Cottarelli came to power after populist parties that won March elections on euroskeptic campaign promises failed to form a government. Steve Bannon, President Trump's former adviser has been especially interested in the rise of populism in Italy, which is here to support.</s>STEVE BANNON, FORMER ADVISER TO U.S. PRESIDENT TRUMP: This populist movement is a global movement is to show the world that every day men and women can take control of their lives, take control of their countries.</s>NADEAU: It is clear that this country is in political chaos staying in the eurozone, which is what E.U. countries that the euro as their currency call themselves is no longer something people take for granted here. I asked Italians in Rome whether they want to stay in or get out of the Eurozone. (Inaudible) as they say here. The Italians are clearly divided when it comes to the Euro.</s>GORANI: Well, what does this mean for Italy, its relationship with the E.U.? Let's get more from Rome now, Barbie Nadeau is there. So, because of all of this and because by the way, some of these populist parties have seen their popularity increase since the election. Should this be worrying to Brussels, to the European Union, that this is happening in the region's third largest economy?</s>NADEAU: I think it is very worrying to the rest of Europe and I think that we saw that sort of pressure on this country's president, Sergio Mattarella, when he vetoed this Euroskeptic minister of the economics really had been against the Euro from the start. And you know, Italy, you have to think about Italy in the context as one of the founding members of the European Union, 1957, the Treaty of Rome, and you have to question what has gone wrong and why Italians today see the Euro more as a necessary evil than something that's actually helping them out.</s>GORANI: Is -- essentially, does it boil down to austerity because all these countries in the E.U. where austerity has been imposed on them to redress these budget imbalances. It seems like the population blames Europe for that. That we are suffering enough, and we have to cut spending, and this is making unemployment worse.</s>NADEAU: I think that is exactly what brought the populist party into power. They were tired of this austerity, and more than that tired of Brussels telling them how to cut their budgets and you know, the Euroskeptic economic minister, one of his mantras is essentially do not -- to take the power away from Brussels, to give it back to the Italians to let them decide where they need to tighten the belt, where they need to make cuts. I think that is what we are going to see going forward is the struggle between the populist and the technocrats, those who think that they know better for the country. And when this country goes back to the balance over the next election, I would be surprised if we wouldn't see a similar result or if we wouldn't see those populist parties grow even more -- Hala.</s>GORANI: Well, certainly in many other parts of the E.U. their popularity is growing. Barbie Nadeau, thanks very much live in Rome. In Ireland, a landslide victory has supporters of abortion rights looking more. Two-thirds of Irish voters chose to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which bans abortions in almost all cases. Now the result represents a palpable change within the traditionally Catholic country and puts British Prime Minister Theresa May under pressure to allow a vote on abortion in Northern Ireland, where terminating a pregnancy is still illegal. As the results rolled in Saturday, abortion rights advocates held up signs saying the North is next. Let's look at what this result could mean for Northern Ireland. Erin McLaughlin joins me here. So, Erin, the question most people might have is Northern Ireland is part of the U.K. Why do they have different abortion laws than England or Wales or Scotland's?</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question, Hala, and that has to do with the way abortion law is determined in the United Kingdom and it's essentially set by the devolved parliaments, which allows Northern Ireland to have more restrictive laws or actually the most restrictive law in all of the United Kingdom. It's also why, in part, it looks increasingly unlikely that abortion laws will change in Northern Ireland any time soon. Even though campaigners are hoping to build on the momentum from the weekend in Ireland. Now, it's also put a lot of pressure on Theresa May given the fact that Northern Ireland does not have an assembly. In fact, it hasn't had an assembly for the past 18 months after a power-sharing agreement collapsed. Many even within Theresa May's own party are looking at the British prime minister to have Westminster step in with some sort of legislation or perhaps a referendum, something that Downing Street says will not happen if the issue of abortion is for the devolved parliaments to decide.</s>GORANI: But so, there is no border between Northern Ireland and Ireland so previously if an Irish or a woman in the Republic of Ireland wanted an abortion, she would go to England, let's say. Now, if someone in Northern Ireland would want an abortion once the law changes in the Republic of Ireland, they just drive south, right?</s>MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, that's right, but campaigners want to still see that change in Northern Ireland. Interesting, though, to note that public opinion in Northern Ireland is deeply divided, conservative Catholic, fundamentalist Protestants, do not want to see the abortion laws in Northern Ireland change. Other people feel differently although they perhaps might not want to see the kind of drastic change that we've seen over the weekend in Ireland, perhaps they want to see the law changed to allow abortion in the case of say, for instance, rape, which again is currently illegal in Northern Ireland. So, public opinion deeply divided, it would be up to the assembly, which of course, does not exist, had it existed it is entirely possible that Democratic Unionist Party would block it.</s>GORANI: Right. And they are supporting Theresa May's government. Thanks very much, Erin McLaughlin with the very latest on that. The times, though, they are certainly changing in terms of abortion laws and the Republic of Ireland will see if that migrates north. Still to come tonight, it seems to defy explanation, the U.S. government has lost track of 1,500 undocumented children across the U.S. border, alone. It arranged their housing, but it says it is not legally responsible for them. And on this Memorial Day in America, we meet a veteran who was there when thousands died. He remembers the Pearl Harbor attack every day and he wants to make sure others do not forget. We'll be right back.