European Parliament approves bridge over the Strait: access to EU funds now possible
The European Parliament has given the green light to updated guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network (Ten-T), which connects over 420 major cities in the Union. The agreement reached with member states in December – adopted in Strasbourg with 565 votes in favor, 37 against, and 29 abstentions – includes a reference to the Strait of Messina, to add a “fixed connection or a bridge” to connect Villa San Giovanni to Messina to the so-called Scandinavia-Mediterranean corridor. The inclusion of the reference to a fixed connection or a bridge between Calabria and Sicily opens the way for Italy to build an infrastructure that could access European funding.
According to the co-spokesperson of Europe Ecologie Les Verts and AVS deputy Angelo Bonelli, “the approval of Ten-T by the European Parliament, which includes important railway projects, does not include funding for the bridge over the Strait, unlike what was claimed by the League, which had presented an amendment in recent months. Works must be completed by 2030, but in any case, the director general of the Transport Department of the European Commission, Eddy Liégeois, in response to a request from Green MEPs, wrote that there is no allocation of European funds for the bridge, whose inclusion in the Ten-T revision reflects a decision by the Italian government.”
Italian government is moving forward. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini declares that the goal remains to open the construction sites for the bridge over the Strait by the summer of 2024. Salvini highlights that “millions of Italians and many companies, even from the North, are waiting for the bridge. There will be 120,000 new jobs.” Another objective is to “reach 2032 with the first motorcycles, cars, and trains crossing the bridge over the Strait and the High-Speed and High-Capacity connecting Palermo, Rome, Milan, and Berlin.”
Salvini emphasizes that “the European Parliament recognizes that it is one of the major infrastructures needed to unite the country and connect Italy to Europe.” Objections from the technicians at the Ministry of Environment? “In the coming weeks, there will be point-by-point responses to all requests. We want to be absolutely scrupulous. Then finally the engineers will start their fascinating and extraordinary work because Italian engineers are among the best in the world: unfortunately, they go abroad to build bridges, but now it will be an opportunity to bring workers from abroad to work in Italy.” And also: “The bridge 15-20 years ago would have been a great work in itself. Today we are investing almost 30 billion euros in roads and highways in Sicily, as much in Calabria.”
The new guidelines on the Ten-T transport network are a central part of the proposal for a new sustainable mobility put forward by the European Commission in December 2021, then revised in July 2022, in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war, to exclude transport infrastructure projects linking the EU with Moscow and Minsk and, on the contrary, strengthen partnerships with Ukraine and Moldova. The agreement maintains an approach of improving the network in three phases, with the aim of completing the central infrastructure framework and electrifying the railway network by the end of 2030. Before completing the global network by 2050, the review introduces an intermediate stage in 2040 where the extended central network is expected to allow passenger trains to reach speeds of 160 km/h.
As recalled by the European Parliament in a statement, among the current projects under construction is also the Brenner Base Tunnel, which connects Austria and Italy, and the Lisbon-Madrid high-speed railway line. The guidelines also emphasize so-called military mobility, urging governments to consider military needs in the construction or modernization of infrastructure.
Ponte sullo Stretto, sì del Parlamento europeo: ora sarà possibile anche ottenere fondi dall’Ue
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