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[bears123]

ROME , May 8 (Xinhua) -- Head of Italy's securities watchdog agency Consob on Monday slammed the notion of an Italexit and the EU's bank bail-in rules alike.


In his seventh yearly speech to financial markets, Giuseppe Vegas said an Italexit "would be a shock to the entire eurozone" and place its very survival at risk.


"It would endanger the stability and proper functioning of the financial system," the Consob chief warned.


He spoke in the wake of Sunday's French electoral victory of liberal, pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron over rightwing, euro-skeptic contender Marine Le Pen, who campaigned on a Frexit platform.


In Italy , pro- and anti-EU parties are jockeying for position ahead of the next general election likely to be held in early 2018.


The current number one party is the populist euro-skeptic Five Star Movement, which calls for Italy to leave the eurozone and to go back to its old currency -- the Italian lira.


"The mere announcement of a return to the national currency would cause an immediate withdrawal of capital by international investors, such that it would gravely endanger Italy's capacity to refinance what is the world's third-highest public debt," said Vegas.


Italy's public debt stood at just over 2.2 trillion euros (2.4 trillion U.S. dollars) or 132.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2016, according to official statistics agency Istat.


Debt interest payments equaled 4 percent of GDP last year, Istat said.