BEPPE GRILLO BACKTRACKS HIS ENDORSEMENT FOR SECESSION. POLLS SHOW HIS ELECTORATE IN VENETO THINKS OTHERWISE

PRESS OFFICE OF “PLEBISCITO.EU”

— PRESS RELEASE —

LOS ANGELES                            March 10, 2014

Gianluca Busato: “The only endorsement we need is from the Venetian business community. We are ready for a unilateral declaration”

Los Angeles, CA – After unexpectedly endorsing the referendum for independence of the Veneto region, to be held on March 16, today Beppe Grillo, leader of the largest opposition party in Italy, immediately back pedaled from his initial remarks. Breaking up Italy may be politically too costly even for the controversial comedian, polls show.

On March 8 Grillo wrote in his blog, “and if tomorrow Venetians choose not to remain inside a nightmare state where democracy has disappeared… and if tomorrow there is a referendum it would be a plebiscite”, making an ill-defined reference to Plebiscito.eu, the referendum committee in charge of the referendum that in less than a week will ask 5 million Venetians “Do You Want Veneto to Become an Independent and Sovereign Federal Republic?” On March 9 Grillo clarifies that he instead supports a decentralized federal Italian state precisely in order to avoid an otherwise inevitable secession.

Pollster Roberto Weber may have found an explanation to Grillo’s wobbly position on Venetian independence. According to his latest poll, in the referendum of March 16 up to 72% of Grillo’s electorate in the Veneto region will vote in favor of secession from Italy. Given the upcoming European Parliament elections this is an issue ignited by the prolonged economic turmoil in a once thriving North East Italy. But favoring Venetian independence may win Grillo votes in Veneto but will have him lose them in other parts of Italy.

“People are still thinking how to gain electorally from this referendum” says Gianluca Busato, president of VenetoSi.org, the committee that has assembled all Venetian separatist forces, “but they don’t understand that we are ready to declare independence soon after.” The pro independence organizers show little concern with a smooth and concerted transition with the Italian government, and are determined to act unilaterally. “All we need is to successfully retain all forms of taxation, and controlling taxes de facto means being an independent country” continues Busato. “Venetian businesses are the one paying direct, indirect and payroll taxes to the Italian government. I am a businessman, and like everyone else I am just waiting to be legitimized by a popular vote to do otherwise.”

According to the Italian Ministry of Finance CPT database, each year the Veneto Region pays 70 billion euro in taxes to the Italian government, and only 50 billion euro are accounted as regional public expenditures (including servicing the national debt and the parceling of national services). The annual difference of 20 billion euro between taxes paid and public services received is what most Venetians perceive as the culprit of their economic woes.

PRESS OFFICE OF “PLEBISCITO.EU”

LOS ANGELES (CA) 2014 ©

4 million letters sent to Venetian citizens with referendum documents