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- <text id=90TT1627>
- <title>
- June 25, 1990: World Notes:Italy
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- June 25, 1990 Who Gives A Hoot?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 35
- World Notes
- ITALY
- Showdown in Doge City
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> When Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis decided to promote
- Venice as the site for Expo 2000, much of Italy--and Europe--shuddered. Most of those opposed to the idea feared for the
- fragile health of a city already under attack by pollution and
- threatened by rising sea levels. Still, the 47-nation
- International Bureau of Exhibitions was expected last week to
- choose the jewel of the Adriatic over Toronto and Hannover as
- the Expo site.
- </p>
- <p> Two days before the vote, however, Prime Minister Giulio
- Andreotti announced that owing to the very environmental
- concerns voiced by the critics, he was withdrawing the
- candidacy of the city of canals. With La Serenissima out of the
- running, Hannover was the committee's final choice.
- </p>
- <p> It was another embarrassing needle stuck into De Michelis,
- who has become something of a political pincushion. The
- Socialist politician started out badly last year when he was
- the lone European Foreign Minister to attend a political fete
- thrown by Muammar Gaddafi--and was then snubbed by the Libyan
- leader.
- </p>
- <p> During the Venice controversy, De Michelis was unfairly
- criticized for everything from his size (a "bulging gut," as
- Britain's Independent put it) to his disco-dancing
- inclinations. On the bright side, however, all the publicity
- has not hurt sales of his annual guide to Italy's best discos.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-