At the Ministry of Infrastructures, there is "the air of change". Paradoxically however, in the last 24 hours these words seem to have reversed their original meaning 360 degrees. They had been used to talk about the new era inaugurated with the transition of power from the PD government to that formed by the Five Stars and the League. But today in Piazzale di Porta Pia the change is the return of a PD minister at the helm of Infrastructure and Transport. This is Paola De Micheli, one of the seven women who make up the Executive Count 2.
"There will be no more political obstacles to construction sites”, affirms the new minister with certainty during an interview with The print. The objective of his words is clear: to mark a clear U-turn with respect to the decisions taken by his pentastellato predecessor, Danilo Toninelli, one of the most criticized ministers of the former yellow-green government, who yesterday said goodbye to the minister's chair with a post on Facebook with a bitter and polemical tone.
It starts from Tav, on which the former minister, after a year of No and discussed cost-benefit dossiers, was forced to surrender in front of the go-ahead from the Premier, Giuseppe Conte, and the favorable vote of Parliament (with the votes of PD and League). “Now the work must proceed as quickly as possible”, De Micheli tells the Turin newspaper, once again revealing how the position of the Democratic Party has always been diametrically opposed to that of the pentastellati.
However, there are several important dossiers on the Infrastructure table. Starting from grounda, the Genoa motorway variant designed to lighten traffic on the stretch that also affects the Morandi bridge. Toninelli on August 22 had rejected it after a cost-benefit analysis, suggesting "more efficient options". De Micheli changes course: “I am against the so-called mini-Eaves, because it would mean losing at least another 6 years around a ready project. I don't see insurmountable technical problems, even if that dossier is part of the more general theme of reviewing concessions".
And speaking of concessions, the new minister will also have to face one of the cases that has exacerbated the political debate in the last year: that relating to concessions in the hands of Autostrade per l'Italia, a subsidiary of Atlantia. De Micheli seems to definitively close the door to a possible revocation: “In the Government program there is written a precise and very different word: revision. We must strengthen investments, safety and reduce costs for users". A position that for Atlanta sounds like a "reassurance". Not surprisingly, in Piazza Affari, the share of the Benetton company gains 1,44%, achieving one of the best performances of the Ftse Mib.
Last important chapter: the ports. In reality it is an issue on which decisions will have to be shared with two other ministries, Interior and Defence, but De Micheli has no doubts: “The closed ports were a distorted narrative of reality, useful only for Salvini's propaganda. A meaningless slogan that only served to hide the truth: 80% of migrants land on small boats that nobody notices”. The wind of change continues to blow.
