The Verdi D’amato and Corrao: an opera that is not even included in the Ten-T network
[26 Aprile 2024]
While Minister Salvini and the League (formerly the North) are trying to make people believe in a yes from the European Union to the Strait Bridge, responding to a letter with a request for clarification sent by the European Green MEPs, Rosa D’Amato and Ignazio Corrao , Pat Cox, coordinator of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor of the TEN-T network, writes that the European Commission «Is aware of the fact that the Italian authorities are preparing the preparatory studies necessary to carry forward the project», but «It is not aware knowledge of a final decision or concrete alignment for the bridge. It is also for this reason that the maps of the revised TEN-T regulation depict the project as a ‘studies/ideas’ project” and not as a real infrastructure”.
D’Amato underlines that «The Bridge over the Strait, to be financed with EU funds, should fall within the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor. But as we have reported for some time, and as the European Commission confirmed to us, to date that of the Bridge is only ” an idea”, a “study”. There is no infrastructure work to which the EU has given its approval. If anything, as clarified by Cox in his letter, Brussels can only co-finance with a contribution equal to 50% the studies aimed at preparing the construction phase of projects. In the case of the Bridge, Cox was keen to clarify that any contribution, if provided, would only cover the study of the railway infrastructure, and not that of the entire work. In short, we are talking about a few million euros, crumbs for a work which, according to the Italian government’s bizarre calculations, should cost at least 13-14 billion euros.”
In his letter Cox confirms all the concerns raised by the Italian environmental associations and that the Commission is only aware of the fact that Italy is conducting preparatory studies and reiterates that «Without knowing the results of the preparatory studies, it is not possible to make hypotheses on a potential EU contribution to the construction activities of the planned bridge on the Strait of Messina”.
D’Amato concludes: «The truth is that the Strait Bridge has not received any green light from Brussels, and there is a high probability that it will never receive it. As reiterated by several experts, the criteria that the work must satisfy, including environmental ones, are in contrast with the dreams of glory of Minister Salvini and the companies interested in its construction. This latest attempt will only increase the useless expenses that have accumulated over the decades borne by Italian taxpayers. For a bridge that will never see the light.”
