WHEN IN ROME, DON'T DO AS MARCO PANNELLA DOES; IT CAB BE ILLEGAL

Mayoral Candidate's History Of Political Stunts Raises Doubts About Latest Bid

By MARIA STURANI

Special to The WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE,

Wednesday, December 18, 1996

Marco Pannella has been keeping himself busy. The political activist was on trial earlier this month for handing out marijuana and hashis to passers in the city's Piazza Navona last Christmas-dressed as Santa Clans. Last Friday, he attended a preliminary hearing for offering 300 grams of hashish to a television talkshow host during a live broadcast. And a few weeks ago he announced his plans to run for mayor of the Eternal City-on a platform that in-cludes some concerted attacks on the Vatican. Controversy and legal skirmishes are nothing new for the 66-year-old Mr. Pannella, a rebel with many causes and curious methods. He has spent the past four decades stirring up Italian politics by campaigning-with some success-forthe liberalization of laws on abortion, divorce, gay rights and so-called soft drugs. Chief among his tactics is the hunger strike, and his alternately gaunt or fleshy face and striking blue eyes have become a fixture of the Italian press. To make a point, he also has smoked dope and stripped

in public. "You need to expose yourself to obtain results," says Mr. Pannella, taking a drag on one of his ever-present Gauloise cigarettes. But his many targets and headline-grabbing moves make some people wonder if the mayoral bid isn't just another stunt. "It's hard to know whether he really wants to be mayor of Rome," says Ernesto Galli della Loggia, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Perugia. Mr. Galli della Loggia thinks that Mr. Pannella would make a "great mayor since he is honest and loves Rome," but he has doubts about the activist's long-term commitment. "He demonstrates great tenacity, but he has [tool many goals.

" Radicals and 'Cicciolina'

Born in the country's central region of Abruzzi, Mr. Pannella began his career as a political activist while at university, where he studied law. He worked as a journalist, and in the 1960s took over leadership of the Radical Party, founded in the previous decade by a group of Italian intellectuals to promote a broad slate of reforms. The party, which is now an international organization, raised its profile considerably in the mid-1980s with the enlistment of porno-film star Ilona "Cicciolina" Staller, who won a seat in parliament in 1987 under the Radical Party banner. In 1979, Mr. Pannella was elected a member of the European Parliament, the European Union's largely consultative body, where he holds a record for taking the floor. Earlier this year he resigned, however, in part because the legal immunity that comes with a parliamentary seat limited the political usefulness he attaches to arrest and prosecution. "This way, they have no excuse; they have to arrest me," Mr. Pannellasays. So serving his causes

is Movimento Club Pannella, a populist reform movement named after him. Among other things, the socalled pannelliani are promoting 20 referendums to reform the judicial and electoral systems and some economic laws. They have collected 12 million signatures on petitions calling for the referendums to be held, and have submitted them to Italy's constitutional court for final approval. But it's outside the conventional political venues that Mr. Pannella has enjoyed the most attention and success. His many hunger strikes-starting with one in 1964 for the legalization of so-called soft drugs-have helped change laws on abortion, divorce and party financing, to name just a few. His tactics also have earned him the reputation of being an egomaniac and raised questions about what he would do as Rome's mayor. "He's a politician with the capital P," says Alberto Ardunini, 47, a Roman taxi driver. "He's a great actor and we have to see what interests he is pursuing." Many Romans question his commitment to the mayoral of

fice. They wonder whether he announced his candidacy only to unnerve city hall, where the current mayor, Francesco Rutelli, is a Radical Party member and former protege of Mr. Pannella.

A Shaky Platform?

Mr. Pannella himself isn't sure whether he'll carry his campaign through to the end; the mayoral election is scheduled for next May at the earliest. He says his main priority is to bring politics to a higher level. "I proposed myself as a candidate to force Italian politics to elevate itself-if possible," he says while seated in his cozy kitchen in a garret in central Rome. Central to his platform are somewhat hazy plans to make Rome less clerical. One of his targets is the Jubilee in the year 2000, when Rome will celebrate most spectacularly a religious festival established in the 1300s and held every 50 years. It's an occasion when Catholic pilgrims traditionally travel to the city to receive special blessings, or indulgences, from the pope. City officials expect the 2000 gala to bring 42 million Catholic visitors. For the Jubilee, Italy has set aside hundreds of billions lire for public works, and Mr. Pannella wants to ensure that none of the money benefits the Catholic Church. Rather than building more c

hurches around Rome with state money, as the city government plans, he would use the funds to build places of worship for other religions in every city neighborhood. Mr. Pannella's views on bureaucracy and urban renewal are no less unusual. Noting that the city is swarming with national and local government ministries and agencies, as well as trade-union and military headquarters, he decries what he sees as a proliferation of fiefs that produce nothing. He would like to see some of this bureaucratic machinery moved to other urban centers throughout the country in a kind of federalist redistribution. The old politician criticizes Mayor Rutelli for conceding too much to these powerful groups.

'Jungle of Concrete'

While Rome itself has magnificent squares and buildings, both secular and religious, Mr. Pannella complains that some suburban areas are a "jungle of concrete." He argues that in the past 40 years, nothing of modern architectural importance has been built in the city. In the Jubilee he sees another golden opportunity, suggesting that the city use the occasion to commission buildingsfrom the world's leading architects. Many citizens and politicians may agree with Mr. Pannella's criticism of Rome, but, not surprisingly, many question his solutions. "In terms of administrative capacity and institutional culture, [Mr. Pannella] is valid," says Lucio D'Ubaldo, secretary in Rome of the Christian Democracy Party's splinter group, Partito Popolare Italiano. But "in view of the Jubilee, I don't think Rome needs a provocative mayor like Mr. Pannella. Rome needs a moral and ethical recomposition." At the moment, Mr. Pannella isn't fully focused on his mayoral campaign. He's heading off to the Maldives to ask for the re

lease of two Italian citizens who have been in jail for seven months for possession of marijuana and face an indeterminate stretch. A Pannella campaign to deter Italians from going to the Maldives for Christmas is already bearing fruit. After only one day "10 people already called Radio Radicale [the Radical Party's radio station] to say they canceled their trip there," Mr. Pannella says. "I bet the president of the Maldives will contact us before Christmas.".