The decision has arrived: the Constitutional Court agrees with the government. The executive, then yellow-green, could legitimately exclude Autostrade per l'Italia from the reconstruction of the Morandi bridge, which collapsed in Genoa 23 months ago, on the eve of August XNUMXth. The decision, which arrived after the question raised by the Liguria Regional Administrative Court, which Aspi had turned to considering that the so-called Genoa Decree was illegitimate, therefore blames the concessionaire and arrives on the same day in which it broke out the case of the new Genoa bridge that the Minister of Transport Paola De Micheli has entrusted to the concessionaire waiting to decide what will happen to the concession. All this while Genoa is paralyzed by the crazy traffic due to the motorway blockage due to the extraordinary works requested at the end of May along the tunnels. An explosive situation on which it will now be necessary to see how the impact of the ruling of the Consulta will affect.
The majority is in fibrillation and the M5S on the barricades. Prime Minister Conte, accused by the Democratic Party of having stalled so far, assured that the decision on the revocation of the concession to Aspi will arrive "ad horas or in any case during the week". "Never received formal feedback to the proposals made, nor communications about other conditions posed by the executive", replies the Benetton company.
However, it remains to be seen whether or not the rule introduced at the end of the year with article 35 of the Milleproroghe decree will hold up, which reduces the compensation for the concessionaire by limiting it only to the investments made (about 7 billion) and not also to the damage for the loss of income due to the premature revocation of the concession, expiring in 2038 (the compensation would rise to at least 23 billion). Atlantia, which controls Aspi, appealed to the EU claiming that the Conte government has violated contracts and is pushing for a fire sale of the company at below market prices. The skein therefore remains decidedly very tangled. But here is the text of the statement with which the Constitutional Court announced the decision on the Morandi Bridge:
“In today's council chamber, the Constitutional Court examined the questions raised by the Liguria Regional Administrative Court concerning numerous provisions of Law Decree no. 109 of 2018 (the so-called Genoa Decree) issued after the collapse of the Morandi Bridge. The Decree entrusted an extraordinary commissioner with the activities aimed at the complete demolition and reconstruction of the bridge as well as the expropriation of the areas necessary for this. Furthermore, the commissioner was asked to identify the contractor companies, precluding him from contacting the concessionaire Autostrade Spa (Aspi) and the companies controlled by it or associated with it. Finally, the contested decree forced Aspi to face the costs of reconstruction and expropriation.
Pending the filing of the sentence, the Press Office informs that the Court has deemed the questions relating to the legislative exclusion of Aspi from the negotiated procedure aimed at choosing the companies to which to entrust the demolition and reconstruction works unfounded.
The Legislator's decision not to entrust Autostrade with the reconstruction of the bridge was determined by the exceptional gravity of the situation which led him, as a precaution, not to entrust the work to the company responsible for maintaining the bridge itself.
The Court then declared inadmissible the questions on the analogous exclusion of companies connected to Aspi and those concerning the obligation of the concessionaire to meet the costs of rebuilding the bridge and expropriation of the areas concerned. The ruling will be filed in the coming weeks."
