Tensions in Italy's governing centre-left coalition over a controversial plan to expand a United States military base appeared set on Friday to cause Premier Romano Prodi a major political headache.
About a dozen MPs from three parties in Prodi's alliance joined a group of 100 protestors who staged a sit-in near parliament in Rome to demonstrate against the enlargement of the Vicenza base.
Prodi has said the government will not oppose the base's expansion, arguing that to do so was diplomatically impossible when the plan had already been approved by the previous centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi. He has also said this decision is final, much to the annoyance of two Communist parties in his alliance. "I am against the expansion," said Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero, a Communist Refoundation party member, in a message to the sit-in. "I think there should be a referendum among Vicenza's citizens".
Another centre-left ally, the Greens, repeated its protests on Friday and warned that the affair was "not over yet".
The American military base in Vicenza currently houses 2,600 troops. The expansion project involves building barracks at the city's Dal Molin airport to accommodate 1,800 more US soldiers who are currently stationed in Germany.
Shortly after Prodi revealed his government's position this week, a State Department spokesman in Washington expressed the "appreciation" of the US administration.
IMPACT ON AFGHANISTAN MISSION.
Meanwhile, the issue of the American base appeared to be connecting itself to another source of friction between the premier and his leftwing allies: the continued presence of Italian troops in Afghanistan.
The Communist parties and the Greens oppose Italy's presence in the central Asian country, saying it is now a war zone. Last time the funding measure came to parliament, they gave their consent with extreme reluctance.
At the same time as the sit-in against the US base was going on, prominent members of the 'rebel' parties announced serious doubts about whether they would vote in favour of crucial legislation financing Italian peace-keepers in Afghanistan.
Ferrero said flatly he would not vote in favour of a decree on Afghanistan if it was the same as the one approved by the centre left six months ago.
He said there needed to be "discontinuity with the current situation", adding that there would be "discussions" on the issue within the centre left in coming days and weeks.
The Greens and the Italian Communists Party (PDCI) made a link between Vicenza and Afghanistan explicit.
"The decision to enlarge the Vicenza base will certainly have repercussions as far as the financing of Italian military missions is concerned," said Manuela Palermi, head of the Green-PDCI group on the Senate.
She noted that the Vicenza base was used to house soldiers due to be sent to Afghanistan and Iraq, where the United States was conducting "two wrong-headed wars".
The nine-party coalition supporting Prodi's government has a majority of just one seat in the Senate, meaning that any desertions would make it very difficult to pass the Afghanistan bill.
However, the life senators could vote for the government and save the day as they have in the past.
Also some senators from the centre-right opposition ranks could step in to approve the measure. But this would be embarrassing for the premier and would lead to calls for a new government and even possibly new elections.
