There is no question about it: the crisis that has come over Italy has immense implications not just for Italy but for all the Eurozone, ourselves included.

Let us make some things clear: there is nothing in the Italian constitution that says that the president has any say about the choice of ministers. On the contrary, as happens in other democracies, the president usually goes along with the names indicated by the prime minister-elect, unless there are questions about potential conflicts of interest.

In this case, President Mattarella objected  to the proposal that 81-year old Professor Paolo Savona, who had already worked with (later President)  Ciampi when he was at the head of the Italian Central Bank, becomes Minister for Finance.

Mattarella claimed that Savona was a Eurosceptic and feared that the rating agencies would use his presence in the Italian Cabinet to downgrade Italy. He could also have received warnings in this sense from heads of state or of government in the EU and/or the European Central Bank. Of course, he does not admit to this.

The fact is that Mattarella objected to Savona not because of any conflict of interest but precisely because of Savona's ideas. That Savona is a Eurosceptic is widely known but neither he nor the 5S - League alliance had promised to pull out of the euro if in government and Savona himself declared his intentions were definitely not in that direction.

This is the enormity of what happened on Sunday evening and the reason why Giuseppe Conte refused to be prime minister. It is after all, a question of sovereignty. The Italians have voted in a general election as a result of which two Italian parties have been supported by the majority of voters. The two parties, none of which has ever been in government, discussed and finally agreed upon a plan of action which was skeptical of the Eurozone policies but which did not include leaving the euro. But now the president of the republic, who is not elected by popular suffrage, has placed a veto on the person indicated by the two parties to become minister for finance. In other words, the president was seeking to turn back what the people of Italy had selected as their path.

To many, this brought to mind the case of Greece and the pain suffered by the people of that country, especially the poor and the elderly, as a result of the austerity policies imposed on that country by the 'troika' - the Commission, IMF, and the ECB. Read the account by former minister of finance Varoufakis to understand the pressure that can be brought to bear on a country by the immense forces supporting the troika. Savona would be the new Varoufakis.

In this case, however, Mattarella probably overplayed his power. In fact, according to constitutional experts he went beyond his power. That was why, in the immediate hours after Conte's renunciation, some spoke about moving to unseat Mattarella by means of an impeachment procedure. Later opinions moderated things: for one thing, an impeachment procedure takes time and time is precisely what the Italians lack, with the spread topping 300 points as on Tuesday.

At the time of writing, the predictions are for an election to be held maybe as early as late June. It will be an election on the euro and certainly if Mattarella wanted to preserve Italy in the euro it may be he could push Italy in the opposite direction - out of the single currency, even though according to recent polls, the Italians do not want to leave the euro.

But the real issue is not in/out of the Eurozone, but what does a country's sovereignty mean? Can a nation's policies be dictated by other countries, institutions such as the Commission, or by the markets, as European Commissioner Oettinger said on Tuesday?