A Neapolitan priest blessed the
Gulf of Naples on Friday in a ceremony organised by the
environmentalist Green Party in hopes of propitiating a win for
a 'yes' vote in Sunday's referendum on offshore oil and gas
drilling.
A 'yes' vote in the April 17 referendum would strike down
an option to renew existing 30-year concessions for offshore oil
and gas prospecting and drilling in Italy's Adriatic Sea.
"I'm confident there will be a good outcome," said
Francesco Emilio Borrelli, a Campania regional councillor with
the Green Party, who added that the vote is "in defence of the
sea".
The Constitutional Court gave the green light to the
referendum in January, a decision welcomed by nine regions and
environmentalist groups who requested the referendum on concerns
about the effects of offshore drilling on marine ecosystems.
Premier Matteo Renzi is urging voter abstention and has
berated the referendum promoters for wanting to "shut down
working plants, losing 11,000 jobs and increasing fuel imports
from Arab countries or Russia".
Borrelli said, however, that the nine regions bordering on
the Adriatic want to move away from fossil fuels and into
renewables.
"This is not a battle against Renzi, but a defence of the
environment," Borrelli said.
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