Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, has told senior EU figures in Brussels to stop lecturing the Italian people for voting for Eurosceptic parties.

Mr Tusk issued a withering put-down after it was reported that Gunther Oettinger, the EU’s Budget Commissioner, had suggested economic uncertainty could teach Italians not to vote for the populist Five Star Movement and anti-migrant League.

“My appeal to all EU institutions: please respect the voters. We are there to serve them, not to lecture them. #Italy,” tweeted Mr Tusk, who chairs summits of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.

Five Star and the League, who were on the verge of forming a coalition government before their plans spectacularly fell apart over the weekend, have demanded huge reforms to the EU and reacted furiously to what they said was Brussels meddling in national affairs.

EU mandarins were deeply alarmed at the prospect of a coalition government between the two parties at the helm of the eurozone’s third largest economy.