Italy's Northern League party has gathered around 100,000 of the 500,000 signatures it needs to try to launch a referendum proposing to bring back the lira currency, senior party official Roberto Maroni said on Tuesday.
Maroni, who is also welfare minister in Italy's centre-right government, told reporters the League began gathering the signatures around two weeks ago and aims to garner all 500,000 needed by the end of the year.
"Not to consult the people on the euro would be madness from the point of view of democratic instruments and from a political point of view," Maroni said.
"The euro has brought a dramatic impoverishment to millions of families, we have to intervene before it's too late," he said, ramming home the party's familiar rhetoric against the single currency.
Most political analysts doubt Italy will ever hold a referendum on the euro, largely because the country's constitution does not allow referendums on matters governed by international treaties.