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Italy’s government divided over Turin-Lyon train line

A contested high-speed train line between Italy and France has become a key battleground for a divided government in Rome, with part of the coalition demanding the project be scrapped.

Published: 9 November 2018 09:22 CET
Updated: 9 November 2018 12:22 CET
Italy's government divided over Turin-Lyon train line
The planned train line has met with protests from locals in Italy and France. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Business leaders are expected to lead a rally on Saturday urging Rome to forge ahead with the €8.6 billion tunnel through the Alps for the line linking Turin to Lyon, which has already been partially dug.

The rail link will reduce travel time between Milan and Paris from almost seven hours to just over four.

As well as being attacked by environmentalists, the line has been criticised as a misuse of public funds and the anti-establishment Five Stars Movement (M5S) had pledged to block it if elected.

But its government partner, the right-wing League, favours the venture and the movement now fears the so-called TAV ('treno ad alta velocità', or high-speed train) may join the growing list of promises it has been forced to break.

With furious M5S voters burning its flag over other perceived betrayals, analysts have warned a go-ahead on the line could be devastating, particularly for populist leader and deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio.

READ ALSO: Italy's deputy PM says TAV rail link will be reviewed


'We're all guilty of resisting': some protesters have been jailed for their role in demonstrations against the train line. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

“Italy is the second largest manufacturing country in Europe, and it is in its interest to have large-scale infrastructure,” insists Vincenzo Boccia, head of the industry lobby Confindustria.

Turin's city hall — run by the M5S — voted against the line last week, as protests raged outside. The following day, the Piedmont regional council — where the centre-left has the majority — voted in favour.

Piedmont head Sergio Chiamparino has said he is ready to hold a referendum on the issue to decide once and for all, while supporters of the project are to demonstrate in Turin on Saturday, along with local French politicians.

The contested project is for a 57 kilometres long tunnel between the Susa Valley and Maurienne Valley. Proponents of the line, launched nearly 20 years ago and officially scheduled to be finished in 2025, argue that it will rid the roads of a million trucks and avert some three million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

But supporters fear the M5S could get its way should the League believe the coalition's future is at risk over the project.

Paolo Ugge, head of the Conftrasporto transport and logistics confederation, said it was “unacceptable that a strategic piece of infrastructure… could be sacrificed as a bargaining chip”.

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said a decision on the TAV will be taken after a “cost-benefit analysis”.


Opponents say the TAV will damage the environment of the Susa Valley. Photo: Olivier Morin/AFP

'Legitimate questions'

The bill for the tunnel is being split 40 percent, 35 percent and 25 percent between the European Union, Italy and France.

French Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne on Monday promised in parliament “the government's determination to build this infrastructure”. Borne said she respected Rome's decision to carry out a new evaluation of the line's social and economic impact, but warned that the clock was ticking for launching tenders for the project.

She will meet her Italian counterpart for talks on Monday.

France's Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire in August said there were “legitimate questions” being asked by the Italian government over its profitability.

The EU is trying to encourage both countries to move forward with a programme that will otherwise leave it out of pocket.

The European Commission's then-coordinator for a trans-European railway network, Jan Brinkhorst, reminded Italy and France in September that the EU had already shelled out €370 million on the project between 2007 and 2013. A further €814 million for the 2014-2020 period has been signed off on, including €120 million already paid.

He warned that scrapping the project could result in the EU demanding its money back, according to European sources.

And in a carrot and stick approach, he suggested there could be more money if the project goes ahead. The Commission has proposed upping its contribution to cross-border projects to 50 percent — potentially bringing the TAV an extra €860 million. 

READ ALSO: 


Drilling the tunnel beneath the Alps began some ten years ago. Photo: Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP

By AFP's Céline Cornu

POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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