The one expressed by the Renzi government to the Gattopardesca line of the State Railways on privatization, which has already been postponed to next year, is a rejection without appeal. In an interview with "Sole 24 Ore", the Minister of Infrastructure Graziano Delrio takes the bull by the horns and dictates the line: privatization of the Fs yes, but not en bloc because the railway network is strategic and must remain public. And therefore privatization must be speeded up but done piece by piece and for the network we could follow the spin-off model already successfully implemented first with Terna and then with Snam Rete Gas.
"I confirm the position - says the minister - that I have always held since the beginning of the debate on the privatization of the FS: for me the railway network must not be privatized" but only the other assets because "we must think of a long-term development of transport railway and create national champions in the transport service” and therefore it is “better if the network remains public”, unlike the railway services which are offered in competition
Delrio's line openly disavows the position that has always been supported by the CEO of Fs, Michele Mario Elia who violently clashed with the president of Fs, the economist Marcello Messori, who in a recent document sent to the authority of government and published by "Il Fatto Daily" argued that privatizing the FS en bloc serves to defend the positions of income within the group but risks leading to a sensational sell-off and suggested selling asset by asset.
If this outburst of Delrio is confirmed, as it seems, by the entire Government and above all by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has already leaked his discontent about the management of FS, it is probable that the time will be shortened for a sensational turnaround in the guide of the State Railways, where several prominent managers could replace the current one for Elia.
