Continue it clash between Italy and France. After controversy of recent days on migrants, the new contrast front becomes la Turin-Lyon TAV. As reported by “la Repubblica”, Paris would like to pause, a after the 2043, the jobs of its section of the high-speed train because judged "too expensive". The French intention would be to build one of the access sections of the Tav in France only after the entry into operation of the Mont Cenis tunnel, between the end of 2032 and the beginning of 2033. The news immediately triggered the resentful protest of the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini. But then Paris retraced its steps. This is how the new Italy-France casus belli went.
Too high costs of the renovation
The ten-year postponement of the creation of the line was born out of via dei too high cost of renovation. The idea under consideration – supported in a report by the Coi, the Conseil d'orientation des infrastructures – would be to only modernize the old layout which from Dijon would connect the Mont Cenis tunnel via Saint Jean de Maurienne. The Mont Cenis Tunnel is a border tunnel under the Alps. The total cost of the work is 9 billion and it will have to be connected on both sides to the railway network in order for the high speed train to work. The completion of the Italian part is expected on time.
Salvini: France respects the agreements on Table
He intervened on the matter with a note Matteo Salvini, Minister of Infrastructures asking for clarity in Paris: “Beyond the insults, controversies and provocations that we register with astonishment, we are concerned by the French hesitations regarding Tav. Da Paris we expect clarity, seriousness and compliance with the agreements: Italy has been and is keeping its word, we cannot accept about-faces on an important work not only for the two countries but for all of Europe”.
Evaluation in progress by the French government
A develop hypotheses and the schedule was the Coi, the Conseil d'Orientation des Infrastructures. Now, the evaluations of the case will be on the table of the French government. However, he officially denied that a decision had been taken: "The French government has not decided on any postponement in the calendar relating to the Lyon-Turin Tav", the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, adding that the news of postponements in the construction of certain structures refer not to decisions taken "but to an independent report delivered to the government". "It is not in any case - Beaune specified - a government decision and our calendar remains unchanged".
Italy remains alert to the situation and it will certainly be discussed at the next Italian-French intergovernmental conference scheduled for 22 June in Lyon. Meanwhile, tomorrow, a informal first meeting among the heads of delegation, Paolo Foietta for Italy and Josiane Beaud for France, and EU representatives.
The deputy leader of the Alleanza Verdi Sinistra in the Chamber also expressed his opinion on the subject, Mark Grimaldi: “The truth is that the French decision dates back to 2019, when the Ministry of Transport considered upgrading the existing lines, perfectly capable of withstanding the volumes of freight traffic observed in the last twenty years. What, quite simply, we too have been saying for Italy for twenty years. There is no guarantee that France will carry out the work after 2043. The Turin-Lyon high-speed train is like the bridge over the Strait: a gigantic and anachronistic construction”.
