The "serious breach" of which Highways is responsible cancels the clauses of the contract that provide for the payment of penalties in the event of early termination of the agreement. In summary: the State can revoke the group's concession without paying one euro in compensation. That's what we read in technical commission report established by the Minister of Transport, Danilo Toninelli, on 29 March.
Not only that: the revocation of the concession could not only concern Liguria, but extend to the entire motorway network, because the collapse of the Morandi bridge suggests "serious deficiencies in the maintenance system that can be considered to exist throughout the motorway network", continues the report.
The Minister of Economic Development, Luigi Di Maio, therefore insists on the need to unilaterally revoke the concession: "We are moving in compliance with the concession agreement and in the wake of existing contracts - he said - We go forward like a train".
Autostrade, however, would not accept the unilateral revocation without a fight. Sources close to the dossier explain that it is legally incorrect to assume that the collapse of the Morandi Bridge is a consequence of poor maintenance. The trial is still in its infancy: there hasn't even been a probative incident.
If the Court agrees with the company, the compensation clauses for the early withdrawal of the concession they would trigger all right. The commission does not quantify the figure, but in recent days Mediobanca and other analysts have done so, speaking of 22-25 billion euros.
