No nuclear! No GM food! No to an alpine high-speed rail link and no to plans for the world s longest bridge! In the run-up to an April election, Italy s Greens have earned a reputation as the "no" party. The party s leader, who is in line for a cabinet post if the opposition wins in April, resents the negative image, but is happy to receive protest votes from Italians disillusioned with five years of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"It is a caricature, but there is a value in "no" - no to corruption, no to war, no to swindles - it is a healthy "no"," Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio told Reuters in an interview. "We also defend saying "no" to the disastrous things that some people want to do to this country."

The Greens, like other parties in the centre-left coalition headed by Romano Prodi, oppose Berlusconi s plan for a 4-billion-euro ($4.83 billion) bridge between Sicily and the mainland. The longest suspension bridge in the world would be a waste of money and an environmental hazard, they say.

But the environmentalists also oppose many plans on which others parties in Prodi s "Union" group are either unsure - such as nuclear power - or heartily in favour - such as a high-speed rail link through the Alps. How much sway the 46-year-old will have on these issues in a future Prodi government will depend on how many votes he can bring to the coalition and which ministries will go to the Greens.

GREEN CUISINE
Pecoraro Scanio has set his sights high. "If the Greens do very well we would ask for the Economy Ministry," he says. Opinion polls suggest the Greens will maintain the 2 percent they polled in 2001, making it unlikely the party would take such an important seat. Transport, environment or agriculture - the latter of which Pecoraro Scanio headed in 2000-2001 - are more likely candidates for a Green minister, he said.

Pecoraro Scanio admits the Greens in Italy have nothing like the voter appeal they do in countries like Germany, as Italians tend to vote along more traditional lines of left or right wing. But high profile issues, such as the debate over whether energy-poor Italy should lift its ban on nuclear power or the struggle against genetically modified organisms (GMOs), have raised awareness of environmental issues, he said.

"There is a need to fuse environmental issues with Italian traditions, for example defending quality agriculture and traditional food against GMOs. If you leverage the fact that Italy has a great culinary tradition people understand the argument better. "So there is a growth in (environmental) awareness but that does not always get translated into votes," he said, acknowledging that April s election will be won or lost largely on the economy.

But as many Italians voting for the Union will do so because they do not accept Berlusconi s claim that he has improved the economy, Pecoraro Scanio believes some of those votes will go to the "no" party. "If we were to put on our logo "no to swindles" we would win more votes. Italians are tired of saying yes to the idiocies of the government of the right."
(Planet Ark, 06/02/06)