Five nationwide
popular referendum
A popular referendum (also known, depending on jurisdiction, as citizens' veto, people's veto, veto referendum, citizen referendum, abrogative referendum, rejective referendum, suspensive referendum or statute referendum)Maija SetäläReferendum ...
s were held in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
on 8 November 1987, with three questions about
nuclear energy
Nuclear energy may refer to:
*Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity
* Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom
*Nuclear potential energy
...
after the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
, and two questions about justice. Voting day had been postponed of six months, according to the
Italian Constitution
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
, because of the
snap election of spring.
Turnout was quite high, with a 65% of the electors participating to the referendum. For the first time since the adoption of the Constitution in 1948, a referendum was approved by the citizens.
Nuclear power abrogative referendums
The nuclear power referendums concerned three issues:
* abolishing the statutes by which the Inter-ministries Committee for the Economical Programming (CIPE) could decide about the locations for nuclear plants, when the
Regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
did not do so within the time stipulated by Law 393;
* abolishing rewards for
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in whose territories nuclear or coal plants were to be built;
* abolishing the statutes allowing
ENEL
Enel S.p.A. is an Italian Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established ...
to take part in international agreements to build and manage nuclear plants.
Some commenters find that the questions were actually too technical for non-experts and were used to obtain popular consent after
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
in 1986.
In each referendum "Yes" won. Subsequently, in 1988 the Italian government commenced to shut down the existing plants. This led to the termination of work on the near-complete
Montalto di Castro Nuclear Power Station
The Montalto di Castro nuclear power station was a nuclear power plant at Montalto di Castro in Italy. Consisting of two BWR units each of 982 MWe, it was approaching completion in 1988 when the Italian government decided to close all nuclear pla ...
, and the early closure of
Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant
The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe, in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan on approximately . All units of the plant are operated by the DTE Energy Electric Company and ow ...
and
Caorso NPP, both of which closed in 1990. Italy's other nuclear power plants had already closed prior to the decision,
Latina NPP in December 1987.
Location for nuclear plants
![1987 Italian nuclear power plant location referendum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/1987_Italian_nuclear_power_plant_location_referendum.svg)
This referendum asked to abolish the power of the State to oblige the local administrations to accept new nuclear plants in their territory. Italian voters had to say ''yes'' if they wanted to support local administrations, or ''no'' if they wanted to maintain statal supremacy about this theme. The referendum had a turnout of 65.1%.
Rewards for nuclear plants
![1987 Italian local government contribution referendum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/1987_Italian_local_government_contribution_referendum.svg)
This referendum asked to abolish rewards for local administrations which accepted nuclear, and coal, plants in their territory. Italian voters had to say ''yes'' if they wanted to eliminate these payments, or ''no'' if they wanted to maintain them. The referendum had a turnout of 65.1%.
ENEL nuclear plants abroad
![1987 Italian ENEL nuclear plant abroad referendum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/1987_Italian_ENEL_nuclear_plant_abroad_referendum.svg)
This referendum asked to abolish the authorization for
ENEL
Enel S.p.A. is an Italian Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established ...
to build nuclear power plants outside Italy. Italian voters had to say ''yes'' if they wanted to forbid any worldwide nuclear engagement of Italy, or ''no'' if they wanted to continue an Italian nuclear research abroad. The referendum had a turnout of 65.1%.
Justice abrogative referendums
The justice referendums concerned two issues:
* abolishing the law excluding any type of civil responsibility of
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
s in event of judicial errors;
* abolishing the special
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
ary
board
Board or Boards may refer to:
Flat surface
* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat
** Plank (wood)
** Cutting board
** Sounding board, of a musical instrument
* Cardboard (paper product)
* Paperboard
* Fiberboard
** Hardboard, a ty ...
of inquiry which excluded any investigation over
ministers by ordinary courts.
Debate about justice was strong in Italy during the 1980s, especially after the case of the unjust arrest of popular
TV host
A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...
and
anchorman
A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
Enzo Tortora
Enzo Tortora (30 November 1928 – 18 May 1988) was an Italian TV host on national RAI television, who was unjustly convicted of being a member of the Camorra and drug trafficking in 1985, and sentenced to 10 years in jail. He was acquitted of ...
, based only on false accusations by some ''
pentito
''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...
''
mafiosi
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and r ...
.
The referendums were called by the
Radical Party to abolish privileges that nobody had abolished despite they were in opposition to the text of the
Italian Constitution
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
which affirms equality between any citizen. In facts, a sole incumbent minister had been condemned in all republican history:
Mario Tanassi
Mario Tanassi (17 March 1916 – 5 May 2007) was an Italian politician, who was several times Minister of the Italian Republic. In 1979 he was condemned by the Constitutional Court of Italy for his involvement in the Lockheed bribery scandal.
Bi ...
for the
Lockheed bribery scandals
The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft.
The scandal caused consid ...
in 1977.
La Repubblica (it.)
/ref> The referendum found support by the Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country.
Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...
, which wanted to underline its reformist agenda, and by the Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy.
The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor party ...
.
In each referendum "Yes" won. However, if ministers were definitely subjected to ordinary courts, the Christian Democracy
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
and the Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...
later approved a law strongly limiting the civil responsibility for judges.
Judges' civil responsibility
This referendum asked to abolish the law excluding any responsibility for judicial errors. Italian voters had to say ''yes'' if they wanted to abolish judges' exclusion from civil responsibility, or ''no'' if they wanted to maintain it. The referendum had a turnout of 65.1%.
Ministers' board of inquiry
This referendum asked to abolish the law excluding ministers from ordinary prosecution. Italian voters had to say ''yes'' if they wanted to abolish the parliamentary board which substituted ordinary court in ministerial accusations, or ''no'' if they wanted to maintain it. The referendum had a turnout of 65.1%.
See also
*Nuclear power debate
The nuclear power debate is a long-running controversy about the risks and benefits of using nuclear reactors to generate electricity for civilian purposes. The debate about nuclear power peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, as more and more reac ...
*Referendum in Italy
A referendum, in the Italian legal system is a request directed to the whole electorate to express their view on a determined question. It is the main instrument of direct democracy in Italy.
The Constitution of Italy only provides for four t ...
*Nuclear power in Italy
Nuclear power in Italy is a controversial topic. Italy started to produce nuclear energy in the early 1960s, but all plants were closed by 1990 following the Italian nuclear power referendum.
As of 2018, Italy is one of only two countries, along ...
*Legambiente
Legambiente is an Italian environmentalist association with roots in the anti-nuclear movement that developed in Italy and throughout the Western world in the second half of the '70s. Founded in 1980 as part of the ARCI, it later became a stand-a ...
*Anti-nuclear movement
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...
References
External links
Referenda and Nuclear Power Plants - A Historical Overview
at the Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
archive.
European Nuclear Outlook
at the McGraw-Hill
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...
online energy resource site summarizes past referendums.
{{Italian elections
Referendums in Italy
1987 referendums
1987 elections in Italy
Nuclear technology in Italy
Nuclear power in Italy
Nuclear power referendums
November 1987 events in Europe