US BASE 'REFERENDUM' SPLITS CITY

ANSA) - Vicenza, October 6 - An unofficial referendum
against the planned expansion of a US air base in Vicenza has
left the city split.
Opponents of the plan hailed the 95% No vote on Sunday
but supporters derided the low turn-out and called for the
resignation of Mayor Achille Variati.
Variati decided to go ahead with the informal poll in
the face of a state court's ban on an official referendum on
expanding the Dal Molin base.
Despite its lack of legal force, the mayor hailed the
poll as ''an extraordinary example of democracy''.
''It shows how wrong it is not to let people have a say
in things that affect them,'' he said.
Cinzia Bottene, a city councillor and member of the No
Dal Molin Committee against the plan, said ''the referendum
was a great response to the authoritarians who want to impose
something on the local community''.
But the Yes Dal Molin Committee pointed out that the
28.5% turn-out meant fewer people voted on Sunday than they
did for the mayoral election two months ago.
The committee also criticised the funds spent on what it
called a ''useless'' consultation.
''Despite strong campaigning from the No committee,
backed by the mayor with the investment of significant
amounts of money,'' said No Committee member Roberto
Cattaneo, ''fewer citizens voted on Sunday than those who
backed Variati in the municipal elections''.
''Out of intellectual honesty, he should resign,''
Cattaneo added, calling the mayor's drive against the
expansion plan ''isolationist and extremist''.
Opponents of the base were dismayed last week when the
referendum was banned by Italy's highest administrative
tribunal, but then they decided to hold it anyway.
The Council of State said a referendum would be
''superfluous'' because publicly elected officials had
already ruled on the planned purchase of land for the
expansion.
The referendum asked residents whether they thought the
city government should acquire the land at the Dal Molin base
to stop the expansion and maintain the area's ''environmental
integrity''.
Variati was elected this spring on a platform
opposed to the base being expanded to accommodate
2,100 US soldiers and thus unite the 173rd Airborne Brigade,
which is currently divided between Vicenza and Germany.
The Dal Molin airfield is across town from the main
Ederle military base that hosts the headquarters of the
Southern European Task Force (SETF), which has been in Italy
since the early 1950s and includes a rapid reaction force
that has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last month the Council of State overturned a
regional court's ruling against the expansion of the base.
Upholding an appeal from the Italian government, the
Council of State said the TAR of Veneto, which came out
against the expansion on June 20, had no remit for political
questions involving Italy and the United States.
It also stressed that there was no legal requirement to
sound out the local population, which is believed to be
largely against the expansion.