Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is bracing for another key test this weekend following local election defeats, as Italians vote in referendums on nuclear power and his legal immunity.
The nuclear vote is being seen as an important marker of popular opinion on atomic energy in Europe in the wake of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan and after Germany this week passed a bill phasing out nuclear power by 2022.
“We are telling Italians that their future is in their hands,” said Antonio Borghesi, a senior member of parliament from the opposition Italy of Values party which has been the main supporter of the referendum.
Photo: Reuters
The vote tomorrow and Monday could scrap Italy’s plans to return to nuclear power by 2014 as long as the voter turnout is higher than 50 percent.
It could also abolish a law on legal immunity for Berlusconi that was approved by his government soon after his re-election in 2008.
The billionaire prime minister is a defendant in three ongoing trials, involving allegations of having paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl, bribery and fraud.
An Italian Constitutional Court ruling earlier this year curbed part of the legal protection linked to his duties, but the 74-year-old can still invoke immunity.
A strong vote against Berlusconi would add to signs of the growing discontent in Italy seen in local elections earlier this month, in which his ruling People of Freedom Party lost crucial mayoral votes in Milan and Naples.
Berlusconi told reporters on Thursday he would not be casting a vote.
The nuclear referendum is the one that has received most attention and has Italians most fired up, eclipsing the vote on legal immunity as well as another referendum on the privatization of water supplies.
Italy abandoned atomic energy with a referendum in 1987 after the Chernobyl crisis, but Berlusconi had made its re-introduction a major policy goal.
The government argues that nuclear power would slash electricity bills, reduce Italy’s energy dependency and be better for the environment.
Borghesi accused the government of “doing everything to try to prevent the success of this referendum” by ensuring turnout is too low.
Berlusconi admitted that the imposition of a temporary moratorium on nuclear plans earlier this year was an attempt to undermine the referendum. Officials have warned Italians not to react “emotionally” to the issue.
However, the leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, has called on Italians to vote against nuclear power, saying that a success on this issue would be “an important signal” to the rest of Europe.
Pro-nuclear campaigners however warn that a “No” vote would threaten Italy’s energy future.
Opinion polls conducted by political parties in recent weeks show turnout could be around 50 percent but a quorum has never been reached since 1995.
Supporters of the referendum have stepped up a “get out and vote” campaign with concerts and rallies as well as some unusual initiatives.
Beach resorts in the region around the southern city of Naples are offering rental of two deck-chairs for the price of one if visitors can show a voting card with a stamp showing they have cast their ballots in the referendums.
Voters will also be getting discounts in bars, restaurants and even jewelry stores in Rome, as well as free massages, yoga classes and concert tickets.
About 47.2 million Italian residents are eligible to vote, along with about 3.2 million Italians living abroad. An unresolved question is whether the turnout among residents outside of Italy will be counted as well.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The