EU Funds Support the Construction of the Bridge over the Strait of Messina

 The Stretto di Messina Company and the Cinea Agency of the European Commission have signed an agreement, the Grant Agreement, for the allocation of a "non-repayable contribution of about 25 million euros" which covers 50% of the executive design costs of the work, for the part attributable to the railway infrastructure. Salvini is satisfied. The CEO of SdM, Pietro Ciucci, says: "The strategic role of the work is confirmed." Mayors of the territories raise doubts.

Signing of the Agreement For the construction of the Bridge over the Strait, the first funds from the European Union have arrived. The Stretto di Messina Company and the Cinea Agency (Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency of the European Commission) have signed an agreement, the Grant Agreement, for the allocation of a "non-repayable contribution of about 25 million euros" which covers 50% of the executive design costs of the work, for the part attributable to the railway infrastructure, the company explains. To explore further: Bridge over the Strait, the alert: "A pillar rests on a fault". The company denies it.

Ciucci: “Strategic Role of the Work” "The signing of the grant agreement, together with the recent inclusion of the Bridge in the 'Scandinavian-Mediterranean' corridor by the European Council, confirms the strategic role of the work for Europe and sets the groundwork for obtaining further resources to cover the construction costs of the work, with a real prospect of reducing the burden on the state budget," emphasizes the CEO of SdM, Pietro Ciucci. Positive Assessment by the EU The proposal submitted by Stretto di Messina in January 2024, through participation in the Connecting Europe Facility for Transport (CEF-T 2023) call, "has been positively evaluated" by Cinea because the Bridge over the Strait of Messina "meets the selective criteria" established by the EU Commission for: Priority and urgency, maturity, quality, impact, and catalytic effect, explains SdM. Project of Collective Interest Specifically, the European Commission highlighted that the project is of "collective interest", as it impacts all four objectives defined in the TEN-T corridors regulation, namely "cohesion, efficiency, sustainability, and increasing benefits" for users. Among the evaluated parameters are also "the positive socioeconomic and environmental impacts" of the project, the reduction in travel times, noise impact, and pollutant emissions. "Positive assessment" also for the project's ability to "increase accessibility and economic development" of Calabria and Sicily by improving connections, the company further explains. Salvini Satisfied The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, expresses "great satisfaction". And for the Ministry of Transport, the agreement "confirms the seriousness of the project and the supranational interest" of a strategic work, "despite the ultra-no-progress that harms Italy", states the Ministry of Porta Pia. The leader of the League, a few days ago, had stated that "if by mid-November there is the ok from the environmental impact assessment" it could "lead by the end of the year to the final approval of the definitive project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina and therefore the start of construction" Doubts of the Mayors In the meantime, Il Sole 24 Ore reports the concerns of the mayor of Villa San Giovanni, Giusy Caminiti, and the mayor of Messina, Federico Basile. The economic newspaper explains that the concessionaire Stretto di Messina wants to proceed quickly and obtain the green light from Cipess by the end of the year. It has therefore integrated the documentation submitted to the Ministry of the Environment with 800 project documents, “but with a low degree of depth,” according to Mayor Caminiti - “without addressing all aspects of the feasibility of the work and the project details, postponing to the executive project investigations, tests, and designs of essential works”. The mayors emphasize the lack of investigations and analysis carried out by SdM. Environmentalists: “Severe impacts from the bridge” A few days ago, environmental associations harshly criticized the bridge project, speaking of "a severe and irreversible environmental impact, not compensable or mitigable". In the "new Observations", presented to the Via Commission of the Ministry of the Environment, they "challenged in method and substance" the integrations deposited by Stretto di Messina a month ago in response to the Commission's requests. In a comprehensive text of over 600 pages, prepared by 39 technicians and experts on behalf of the Associations, it is emphasized that the analysis work produced by Stretto di Messina contains an "exceptionally serious error", namely, "the total absence of an assessment of the sum that the various impacts connected to the realization of the work produce". The absence of the so-called "cumulative effect" represents "a blatant violation of current legislation, both community and national", they denounce. Project Procedure The CEO of Stretto di Messina, Pietro Ciucci, replied that "the observations presented by the environmental associations and committees against the Bridge over the Strait, are once again generic, unsubstantiated, and undocumented”. The environmental associations and committees believe that the Commission can only close the ongoing Via procedure "with a negative opinion". The Commission should express itself by mid-November and then transmit its opinion to the Services Conference, which in turn will close its proceedings and present to Cipess all the material collected. The Infrastructure decree sets December 31 as the deadline for the Cipess decision on the definitive project of the Bridge over the Strait.