Citizens of a northern Italian city fighting against the expansion of a US air base were dismayed Wednesday when a state court said they couldn't hold a city-wide referendum on the issue.
The Council of State, Italy's highest administrative tribunal, said the referendum on the base in Vicenza was ''superfluous'' because publicly elected officials had already ruled on the planned purchase of land for the expansion.
Vicenza Mayor Achille Variati said the court had put ''a gag on citizens' opinions''.
''This is really bad news but it comes from the magistrature and has to be respected,'' he added.
A politician leading the anti-expansion fight, Green Party regional councillor Gianfranco Bettin, said: ''This is a black page for Italian democracy''.
The referendum was to be held on Sunday, October 5.
It was to ask residents whether they thought the city government should acquire the land at the Dal Molin base to maintain the area's ''environmental integrity''.
Variati was elected this spring running on a platform opposed to the base being expanded to accommodate 2,100 US soldiers and thus unite the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is currently divided between Vicenza and Germany.
The Dal Molin airfield is across town from the main Ederle military base which hosts the headquarters of the Southern European Task Force (SETF), which has been in Italy since the early 1950s and includes a rapid reaction force which has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last month the Council of State also overturned a regional court's ruling against the expansion of the base.
Upholding an appeal from the Italian government, the Council of State said the TAR of Veneto, which came out against the expansion on June 20, had no remit for political questions involving Italy and the United States.
It also stressed that there was no legal requirement to sound out the local population, which is believed to be largely against the expansion.
The Council of State said there was no ''hard evidence'' for the kind of environmental damage protesters claimed the expansion of the Dal Molin base would bring.
Mayor Variati said at the time that the ruling would have no effect on the planned referendum.
''I think it is the Americans who will be most embarrassed by this verdict because they are caught between a government that says 'full steam ahead' and a local population which has hosted them in the most friendly fashion for 50 years and just wants to have its say,'' he said.
Opponents to the project argue that the expansion would have a ''devastating effect'' on the city's urban fabric and the surrounding environment, with a high risk of damaging water tables.
Other arguments against the expansion include the possibility that it would make Vicenza a target in the event of a military conflict or terrorist attack.
Concern has also been voiced about the impact an expanded base would have on a city which is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites, boasting a host of buildings and villas by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio.
There are other local groups who are in favor of expanding the base because of the added business it would bring to the town.
