This time the challenge was between Matteo Salvini and Elly Schlein. While waiting for the face-to-face TV confrontation between the PD secretary and the prime minister Giorgia Meloni, and maybe for the clash at the European elections in case they both run, for a day the bipolarism of right-left was represented by the leaders of the League and the PD. The former in the role of staunch defender of the Bridge over the Strait, the latter as a fierce opponent of the work. The battleground was Sicily, where both flew for a series of meetings. The duel began behind the scenes, under the banner of fair play.
And an unusual trip together. Salvini recounted: “Schlein was with me on the plane. We joked. I told her: ‘I am going to build, you to stop.’ That’s the beauty of democracy. We said goodbye and smiled. We have different ideas.”
But the diplomatic climate of the dispute was shattered at the time of the rallies. “Minister Salvini is pushing forward with this project of the Bridge,” Schlein said in Messina, “disregarding the fact that it is an anachronistic, harmful, wrong project. The Democratic Party wants to stop this wrong project.” The PD secretary reminded that “the scientific committee clarified that wind tests were not carried out and that adequate zoning was not done regarding seismic risks.”
An analysis rejected by the CEO of the Webuild group, Pietro Salini, in charge of the construction of the work: “I am ready to speak with Schlein, to explain the technical reasons for the existence of the bridge,” he said in an interview on Rai Tre. “Suspended bridges are by definition more earthquake-resistant than any other structure. The bridge is designed to withstand wind gusts of up to 300 kilometers per hour, while the maximum recorded in the last 100 years is 100 kilometers per hour for a short period.”
But Schlein suspects that Salvini’s “hurry” has another purpose: “It seems electoral.” For the leader of the League, the PD secretary implied, the crux is not so much the necessity of the work, but the vote in the European elections, which will be a moment of verification on the internal relations within the center-right and also for Salvini’s leadership in the party.
“Someone says we should not build infrastructure,” Salvini retorted from Belpasso. “For me, for the League and for the ministry I lead, infrastructure is needed in Sicily and throughout Italy. We are making up for years of delays. There has never been so many real investments, real sites, and not fake inaugurations. In a few years, Italians will see firsthand that we are doing what our parents did for Italy in the post-World War II period.”
In defense of the work, the governors of Sicily, Renato Schifani, and Calabria, Roberto Occhiuto, both of Forza Italia. “It is a shame that the left has chosen to put political controversy ahead of the objective of the country’s infrastructural development,” Schifani said. “No few politicians’ catwalks will stop us: we will build the Messina Bridge.” And Occhiuto: “We need to attract investments, create jobs, development, and opportunities. Only in this way can my region try to restart. The leader of the No, Schlein, wants a stagnant and resigned south.”
Il Ponte sullo stretto infiamma la sfida tra Salvini e la Schlein
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