EUROPE - A European Union leader has begged countries to stop holding referendums for fear of tearing the bloc apart. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has pleaded with the remaining 27 nations to cease giving citizens the power to decide their own future. Mr Fico pointed to the recent examples in the UK and Italy, which saw the countries turn away from the EU. Britain voted to leave the superstate - Brexit - while the Mediterranean nation’s future is uncertain after the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned following Italians overwhelmingly rejecting his package of reforms.