Irregularities and critical issues of the project
Greenpeace Italia, Legambiente, Lipu and WWF Italia had in fact presented two detailed briefs to the Court of Auditors in which they highlighted the multiple irregularities of the project: “from the violation of European and national environmental regulations, to the economic unsustainability of the work, up to the procedural criticalities that characterized the entire authorization process”.
The four associations jointly declare:“The Court of Auditors has confirmed what we have been supporting for years: the Strait Bridge project is an unsustainable work from every point of view. The first ‘third party’ called to comment on the Bridge could not do anything other than highlight all the unresolved problems. The accounting magistrates identified fundamental critical issues: from uncertain economic coverage, to the reliability of traffic estimates, from compliance with environmental and anti-seismic regulations, to the violation of European rules on exceeding 50% of the initial cost of the project without a new tender. The entire process followed by the Meloni Government was characterized by continuous forcing which were never resolved, but which attempts were made to overcome with further forcing, such as the continuous votes of confidence to bypass the discussion and confrontation in Parliament, ending up creating a legal ‘monster’ with heavy elements of unconstitutionality”.
The associations recall that in the brief presented to the Court in mid-September they had highlighted precisely these crucial aspects: “We had contested, in addition to the preliminary defects relating to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Incidence Assessment (VINCA) procedure, in violation of community directives, the instrumental use of the imperative reasons of significant public interest (IROPI), with the ridiculous forcing of defining the Bridge as a ‘military work’ to circumvent environmental constraints. We had raised doubts about the assignment of the work without an international tender, in contrast with European competition rules”.
“Even more serious – the associations continue – it is the uncertainty about the real costs of the work, which already today start at 13.5 billion, but which could rise dramatically, as always happens for large works in Italy. The cost-benefit report presented by the Government is based on completely unrealistic calculations on the increase in GDP and expected traffic flows.”
Unresolved design deficiencies
Greenpeace Italia, Legambiente, Lipu and WWF Italia also underline that the project has still unresolved design shortcomings: “fundamental seismic studies are missing, essential sealing tests have not been completed and too many decisions are postponed to the executive project. The Court of Auditors has highlighted that even the opinion of the Superior Council of Public Works on the definitive project and that of the Transport Authority on the tariff plan are missing. All issues already extensively illustrated and the subject of two administrative appeals and three complaints to the European Commission, still pending”.
“The Government’s disjointed reactions against the accounting judiciary represent an unprecedented constitutional anomaly, which opens up a clear conflict between the executive and those called by the Constitution to control the economic sustainability of the acts. We remember that those acts are financed with citizens’ taxes” the associations declare harshly.
The four organizations reiterate that the Strait Bridge represents a waste of public resources that could be used for the real needs – including infrastructural – of the South and of the entire country, and finally declare that they are ready to react “if the Government expresses the intention to force its hand and proceed in any case with a resolution of the Council of Ministers ignoring the rejection” (as we have seen it could do): “A possible institutional override of this magnitude would represent a serious violation of the rule of law and would undermine the credibility of our country in Europe. If this were to happen, we will not hesitate to bring the matter before the European Court of Justice for the violation of community rules on the environment, competition and correct management of public resources. A government that proceeds against the findings of the accounting judiciary assumes an enormous political and legal responsibility which would also fall on Parliament”.
