The political controversy after the government's decision to revoke the concession to Autostrade after the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa is still alive. Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio confirms that 'the state will not pay penalties' e he says, 'in the Sblocca Italia in 2015 a legend was inserted at night which extended the concession to Autostrade in spite of any form of competition. It was made to finance election campaigns. Benetton didn't pay me for the campaign and I'm free to terminate these contracts. '
Renzi's reply: 'Anyone who says my government took the money from Benetton or Autostrade is technically a liar. If he says it for political reasons, he is a jackal. Whoever made a mistake must pay. Saying: 'Revoking the concession' increases the likes, but governing is more complicated '.
Di Maio says the government will not have to pay any penalties. “The twenty billion penalty must be paid when a contract is torn up without motivation. Here we have not started the procedure without reason. If the motivation is right, and for now there are almost 40 deaths, I don't think penalties should be paid, also because they would "piss" all the people who at this moment want justice not only in Genoa but throughout Italy " . Then he announced: “Now we decree the motorway concessions contracts. Citizens do not know but those documents are classified and we too struggle to know them ”.
For his part, the other Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, criticized Atlantia's stance on the economic consequences of the revocation of the concession. “Atlantia still manages, with an incredible bronze face and deaths yet to be recognized, to talk about money and business, asking for millions more from the Italians in case of revocation of the concession by the Government after the Genoa massacre. From the top of their full wallets they apologized and gave us the names of the culprits of the disaster they have to pay. We are not interested in the rest: if the government allocated 5 million euros yesterday, if I were them I would put 500 million on the table. They put hand to heart and wallet ". Not only that: for Salvini it is necessary to review the entire system of concessions in Italy.
According to a spokesman for the Commission, "on the safety of road infrastructures on the Trans-European transport network (Tent) - and the Morandi bridge is part of this European network - if it is managed by a private operator, it is the concessionaire that has the responsibility for road safety and maintenance ".
Meanwhile, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Edoardo Rixi, announced that the ministerial circular will be revised and “ambulances will no longer pay the toll either for emergency services as is the case now or for ordinary ones. The concession needs to be reviewed. What is happening is paradoxical, even in these days ambulances pay for ordinary transport ".