Italy's grave constitutional crisis, unleashed by President Sergio Mattarella's decision to reject the Cabinet nominees of the country's biggest parties and impose a caretaker government instead, threatens to spread instability throughout the rest of Europe.

Parties gearing up for early elections seem certain to make Germany's alleged political dominance of the continent and the operation of the euro their key campaign issues, precisely what the Italian President and the rest of the country's political establishment had sought to avoid.