Priest blesses Gulf of Naples for 'yes'

(ANSA) - Naples, April 15 - 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.