by Nicolò Balzano 2F
On April 17th a popular referendum was carried out. It was an abrogative referendum, that is one of the few instruments of direct democracy that the Italian Constitution grants in order to demand the abrogation of a law of the State. If “yes” had won the oil drill concessions would have been cancelled.
Every Italian citizen could vote but the quorum (in that case 50%+1) was reached in only 2 municipalities.
With this referendum we might have deleted the norm that allows oil companies to extract gas and oil within the 12 nautical miles off the Italian shores without any time limits.
However the eventuality of a victory of “Yes” would not make any people lose their job, not even one! A positive outcome of the referendum would not have made drilling stop immediately, but only progressively.
With the victory of “Yes”, an oil company, which had obtained a concession in 1996 would be allowed to drill for ten years more, that is until 2026.
The increase of the extractions of gas and oil in our seas is not directly connected to the needs of national energy. The present hydrocarbons in Italy belong to the patrimony of the State, but the State gives the concession to private companies – which are generally foreign– to take advantage of the existing reservoirs. Therefore, although in our seas oil is extracted, the Italian state continuously imports oil from abroad. In this way its price goes up because of import-taxes.
According to a recent research, our incomes don’t come from oil, but from other sources:
• tourism
• fishing
• our cultural heritage
• farming
• the small and average enterprise
The referendum was proposed in order to protect the Italian seas, first of all. The sea covers 71% of thesurface of the Planet and carries out a fundamental role for the life of man on the earth.
A few hours after the referendum, there was an oil spill in Genoa.
My opinion on the results of this referendum is that the Italians made a mistake, because reaching the quorum in just two municipalities is a global defeat.
But now it’s too late, the extraction of oil will continue like before.
