To nationalize or not to nationalize? The dilemma over the future of Italian motorways divides the government. The Northern League Giancarlo Giorgetti, undersecretary to the Prime Minister, said he was not "very convinced that the management of the state is more efficient".
Giorgetti, speaking at the annual meeting organized by Communion and Liberation in Rimini, however underlined the need for an intervention after the tragedy of the Morandi bridge: “It is right that the agreement be revised. The profitability regime seems to me slightly disproportionate, and this applies not only to Autostrade but also to those who extract mineral water”.
As for relations with Autostrade, the Northern League undersecretary explained that “the government's attitude is absolutely uniform: they will respond to complaints and we will evaluate that. There is a criminal investigation. Be accurate but also quick: the prescription could bury everything in the dust and we don't accept it ". Furthermore, Giorgetti also said he "agrees with the Governor of Liguria, Toti: the reconstruction of the bridge is a duty and has nothing to do with responsibility".
On the topic of possible nationalization, Giorgetti actually replied to the Minister of Infrastructure, the grillino Danilo Toninelli, which in an interview published today by Corriere della Sera instead defined "convenient” the solution that would bring the management of the highways back into public hands.
"Revenues and margins would go back to the State through tolls - explained Toninelli - to be used not to distribute dividends to shareholders, but to strengthen the quality of services and the safety of our roads. The old policy led the State to first abdicate its role of manager and then that of effective controller, however the substantial responsibility for the structural stability of the works rests with the concessionaire”. Regardless of the efficiency or otherwise of the return to public management, this morning the Republic emphasized the costs for the state, recalling that "it will take forty years to repay nationalisation".
