MP Roberto Speranza, leader of a
dissenting left-wing minority within Premier Matteo Renzi's
Democratic Party (PD), on Thursday slammed the prime minister
for urging voters to abstain from an April 17 anti-offshore
drilling referendum. "It is unacceptable...for the premier to
lead the abstentionist party," Speranza tweeted. "Doesn't PD
mean grassroots participation?" A yes vote on Sunday's
referendum would strike down existing offshore oil and gas
drilling concessions in Italy's seas. Renzi wrote in his online
newsletter earlier in the day that abstaining from the
referendum is "constitutionally legitimate". He berated the
referendum promoters - led by Greenpeace environmentalist group
and local administrations - for wanting to "shut down working
plants, losing 11,000 jobs and increasing fuel imports from Arab
countries or Russia".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
