US embassy cable - 05ROME2089

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ROME 002089 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PGOV, IT, HUMAN RIGHTS, FAO 
SUBJECT: ITALY'S FAILED FERTILITY REFERENDUM 
 
 
Classified By: LABORCOUNS CANDACE PUTNAM,FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
1. (U) This is a joint U.S. Embassy Rome-U.S. Embassy Vatican 
cable. 
 
2. (C) Summary. Although touted as Italy's biggest values 
vote since the approval of divorce and abortion, the June 
12-13 referendums on embryo research and assisted fertility 
was a dud.  Most (74 percent) Italians opted to abstain, thus 
keeping Europe's most restrictive fertility law in place. The 
vote was less an affirmation of the law than a reflection of 
popular reluctance to make choices on complex moral questions 
and political apathy on a summer weekend.  The few Italian 
politicians who took a stand on the referendum did so 
primarily in the context of inter- and intra-party jockeying 
for leadership. 
 
3. (SBU) The Italian Catholic Church, which had encouraged 
Italians not to vote, can rightly consider this a win. 
Though it is unclear how much the Church,s efforts on the 
referendum issue had to do with its defeat, the episode does 
suggest that the Catholic Church continues to influence 
Italian politics and politicians.  The referendum also 
demonstrated Pope Benedict XVI,s willingness to make his 
voice heard on political issues; though he did not explicitly 
endorse a position on the issue, he publicly encouraged the 
Italian bishops in their stand.  The new pope can be expected 
to continue encouraging bishops in Europe to speak out on 
this and other moral issues.  Italians seeking more extensive 
fertilization treatment can still find it in Italian-staffed 
clinics in Spain and the UK.  End Summary. 
 
4. (U) A variety of factors muddied the debate and kept voter 
turnout at a surprisingly low 26 percent for the June 12-13 
referendum to overturn four provisions of a controversial 
2004 law restricting embryo research and assisted fertility. 
The law, considered the most restrictive of its kind in 
Europe, was approved with the strong support of the Catholic 
Church and the center-right.  It prohibits stem cell and 
other research on embryos, gives the embryo legal rights as a 
human being, restricts fertilization procedures by limiting 
to three the number of human eggs that can be artificially 
inseminated, bans donation of eggs from a third party, and 
allows artificial insemination only for married heterosexual 
couples. 
 
5. (U) In response, the Communist Renewal (RC) party filed a 
request for a referendum to abrogate the entire law; this was 
rejected.  Instead, the courts approved a request filed by 
members of the Democrats of the Left (DS) party for a 
four-part referendum to abrogate parts of the law to: (1) 
allow research on embryos; (2) ease restrictions on 
artificial insemination; (3) eliminate language equating an 
embryo to a human being; and (4) allow third party donation 
of eggs, especially in cases involving hereditary diseases or 
sterile couples. 
 
Just Stay Home 
-------------- 
 
6. (C) Referenda in Italy allow voters three choices--yes, no 
or abstention -- and no referendum filed in the last ten 
years has garnered the 50-plus percent voter participation 
required for approval.  The Italian Catholic Church publicly 
urged citizens to abstain from this referendum, prompting a 
barrage of media debate and a public relations campaign from 
both supporters and opponents of the law.  The Italian 
bishops defended their stand, maintaining that it is the 
Church's role to offer moral guidance on ethical issues, 
though they felt they were careful not to push their case too 
hard to avoid charges of direct interference in political 
matters. 
 
7. (SBU) Although the referendum campaign was the work of the 
Italian bishops, in the run-up to balloting, Pope Benedict 
XVI joined the fray, thanking the bishops for working &to 
enlighten and justify the choices Catholics and all citizens 
have concerning the referendum.8  The pope never explicitly 
endorsed the appeal for a nationwide boycott; instead, he 
told the Italian bishops that he believed &in the Holy 
Spirit who acts on the consciences and hearts8 of people. 
His words recognized the role of individual conscience in 
such voting decisions, but there was no doubt as to what side 
he was taking.  Pope Benedict also made clear his view that 
the promotion of Christian values in increasingly secular 
Europe has an inescapable political dimension.  The 
Vatican,s semiofficial newspaper, L,Osservatore Romano, 
published a front page op-ed by Milan,s Cardinal Dionigi 
Tettamanzi before the vote endorsing the boycott.  Tettamanzi 
is one of the Italian Catholic Church,s foremost ethicists. 
 
 8. (C) Italian Catholic Church and Vatican efforts to 
influence Italian governments and voters are nothing new, and 
a higher level of what, depending on one's political 
proclivities, can be deemed "moral persuasion" or 
"interference" is accepted here than in some other European 
states.  At the same time, the divorce and abortion referenda 
of the 1970's and 1980's passed overwhelmingly despite the 
Church's strong opposition.  The Vatican can rightly claim a 
victory in this referendum, but whether the Church's guidance 
was the key factor in limiting participation remains 
questionable. 
 
9. (C) Italy is now in an official economic recession and, as 
recent Parliamentary elections demonstrated, people are 
concerned primarily with pocketbook issues.  Faced with 
opposition from the Church, complex scientific and moral 
choices, political apathy encouraged by a dearth of secular 
leadership, and the excuse of a summer weekend, most Italians 
just abstained. 
 
Just Don't Comment 
------------------ 
 
10. (C) For the most part, Italian politicians battling for 
votes in the political center avoided taking a position, 
except where it involved inter- and intra-party maneuvering. 
PM Berlusconi refused to state his views before the vote, but 
afterwards said it "upheld the unity of Italians whose 
majority is moderate."  The leader of the center-left, Romano 
Prodi merely urged voters to vote their conscience.  Daisy 
Party leader Rutelli suggested that DS had made a serious 
error in bringing the issue to a vote and was out of touch 
with societal values.  DPM/FM Gianfranco Fini surprised and 
angered many of his National Alliance (AN) colleagues by 
stating his intention to vote for three of the four 
referendum questions.  Both Fini and Rutelli appear to have 
used the issue to increase their respective profiles in the 
center-right and center-left.  The center-right's losses in 
Parliamentary elections have increased jockeying for a 
potential successor to Berlusconi just when both Berlusconi 
and Prodi are attempting to form single parties of the right 
and the left.  Fini and Rutelli probably saw in the issue an 
opportunity to distinguish themselves as candidates. 
 
What's Next? 
----------- 
 
11. (C) Equal Opportunity Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo and 
traditional feminists like Emma Bonino strongly supported the 
referendum.  Bonino expressed concern that its defeat, 
especially on the question of the rights of the embryo, could 
raise the possibility of an assault on women's rights under 
divorce and abortion laws.  Given the prevailing desire to 
avoid controversy that could alienate centrist voters, 
however, it is unclear what party would step up to the plate 
to request a referendum on entrenched rights to divorce or 
abortion. 
 
12. (C) Polls before the vote showed a large majority of 
voters (78-90 percent) supported easing the law's 
restrictions on artificial insemination.  Firm center-right 
control of Parliament likely will block changes for now, but 
the center-left may try to reform the law if their position 
in Parliament improves after the next election.  In the 
meantime, Italians who want more extensive fertility 
treatments tell us they have other options at Italian-staffed 
clinics in Spain or the UK, as long as they have the money. 
In fact, our UK colleague said that London was bracing for a 
wave of Italian couples seeking fertilization treatments. 
 
To Gloat or not to Gloat 
------------------------ 
 
13. (SBU) The day after the referendum results were in, the 
pope,s vicar for Rome and president of the Italian Bishops 
Conference Cardinal Camillo Ruini declared &I am not the 
winner. I feel I am a bishop who just tried to do his duty,8 
and described the Italians who boycotted the poll as 
&mature.8  Ruini's purposely low-key statement was 
calculated to head off any backlash against the Church for 
what some termed political meddling.  However, while Ruini 
has diplomatically playing down his win, the Italian 
bishops, daily newspaper Avvenire has positively crowed with 
three consecutive days of gloating coverage dedicated to the 
referendum result.  Official Vatican bodies were more 
circumspect.  The Pontifical Academy for Life said it was not 
appropriate for it to comment on the referendum as the ethics 
body was focused more on international than local issues. 
L,Osservatore Romano published a report on the referendum 
result on its back page. 
 
14. (C) From the perspective of the Holy See, the referendum 
may be seen as a first successful foray ) albeit a carefully 
measured one -- for the new pope into the European values 
debate.  Embassy Vatican's discussions with the Holy See make 
clear that Pope Benedict intends to focus his time and energy 
on addressing what he considers the absence of core values in 
Europe and the threat of unbridled secularism.  He will 
doubtless find no shortage of battles to fight elsewhere in 
Europe in the coming years. 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
NNNN 
 2005ROME02089 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL