ABSTRACT: What resources are available to the Radical Party to begin the process of transformation into a transnational party?

They are certainly not sufficient; here is a summary of the situation.

(The Party New, n.1, June 1991)

Human Resources.

On the basis of the decisions of the Budapest Congress of April 1989, the Party has assumed "full congressional powers". These are represented by the First Secretary, Sergio Stanzani, the Treasurer, Paolo Vigevano and the Presidents of the Party and the Federal Council, Emma Bonino and Marco Pannella. They have undertaken to return the Party to "statutory normality", only when the conditions that made necessary the "assuming of full powers" no longer exist. Those conditions are the undemocratic environment within which the Party is operating in Italy. A further committment was taken "to use all possible forces and financial resources of the Party to achieve the objectives contained in the deliberations of preceding Congresses that have not been realised, in the reports of the Secretary and of the Treasurer".

For this, a series of collaborations will be undertaken: 8 are political and 13 are connected to structural, logistical and organisational affairs.

Financial Resources.

In 1990 the Party suspended its activity. The four people given "full congressional powers" have committed themselves to balancing the accounts. The result of this has been a deficit of 156,500 dollars, which is considerably lower than that of 1989, when it was 2,307,000 dollars. In 1991 financial resources for the party will include the total amount provided for by the law concerning public finance for political parties (2.461.000 dollars), funds originating from the television stations and from the sale of the rights of the Listening Centre (1,087,00 dollars), the salaries of Radical Party members of the two Houses of Parliament, the salaries of the Radical members of the European Parliament, the salaries of the Radical Party local councillors (1,065,000 dollars), and the contribution of the parliamentary group in the House of Representatives (199,173 dollars).

These amounts should be added to income from party membership fees and contributions made when forming the Party as a transnational force in 1991. At the beginning of the year this was expected to yield 1,304,000 dollars.

Thousands of new members are needed.

This is the unknown quantiy with the most potential impact on the amount of financial resources available for "use". The party needs to expand membership into tens of thousands, especially with new members from other countries.

Below there is a list of the most important and immediate requirements.

The "items" listed constitute an estimate of the income for 1991 equal to 6,090,000 dollars.

There are three "items" for expenditure: Structural expenditure, functional expenses and services expenses, Assets.It was estimated at the beginning of the year that 1,390,000 dollars would be needed for the structure of the party and this included the expenses for the secretary, the treasurer and enrolment. This was in line with the estimate of what it would cost to hold the Party Congress outside Italy at the end of August and the two Federal Councils, one in Italy and the other abroad.

However, these estimates were shown to be less than accurate in the weeks that followed. This was mainly, due to the effect of the "Gulf Crisis", but also on account of the possibility of an early general election in Italy which altered Party action.

The "Italian link"

The activity of the Party and its projects are effected by the Italian link, the fact that the Party is part of Italian institutions. Parliament's full term runs out in the the spring of 1992, but if early elections are called and the Party decided not to be represented the inclusion of many of the above-listed items (especially public finance) could not be included in the budget. Currently a new plan is being drawn up which foresees a party organised across international borders and across party lines.

The expense for functioning and services will effect the estimate by up to 1,139,000 dollars.

Expenses related to activity total 1,203,500 dollars.

For the 1991 project the Party estimates expenditure totalling 2,609,000 dollars.

The total expenditure is estimated at 6,341,500 dollars and would give an overall deficit for 1991 of 338,000 dollars.

Alongside the estimates of funds available there are various other assets in Italy that influence the budget in different ways: property (the head office building in Rome which was bought at the end of 1987), radio station (Radio Radicale) and

television stations (three, Teleroma 56 and Canale 66 in Rome, Canale 25 in Milan).