In an interview with the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, Mr Grillo said: "The northern European countries are only holding onto us until their banks have recouped their investments in Italian sovereign bonds. Then they'll drop us like a hot potato." The comic-turned-political activist, who campaigned against austerity measures implemented by Prime Minister Mario Monti, compared the technocrat prime minister to "a bankruptcy trustee acting on behalf of the banks" and described his Five Star Movement as: "the French revolution – without the guillotine."