2.5 billion euros intended to build infrastructure in the center and south would have been diverted by the Ministry of Infrastructure to major interventions for the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto. The news was reported by the newspaper la Republic which, in an article published online, informs that the data are present in ainformation from MIT sent to Cipess (the old Cipe), the Department for the planning and coordination of economic policy. The text would refer to resources for works included in the Pnrr and whose construction risks stopping in 2023 due to lack of economic coverage. Among the definanced projects there would be interventions on the Rome-Pescara railway line, the doubling of the Falconara-Orte line, but also the speeding up of the Lamezia Terme-Catanzaro line and the Sibari-Porto Salvo line in Calabria.
The Calabrian Democratic Party: “The League is dangerous for national unity and the future of the South”
«What the newspaper «la Repubblica» reaffirmed with merit, which we have been repeating for some time with parliamentary acts and interventions, is very serious. The Northern League minister Matteo Salvini withdrew 2.5 billion euros for the infrastructures of the South and diverted these funds in favor of those in the North, confirming his intention to divide the country and to snatch the resources from the South for the necessary works, for example to speed up the Lamezia Terme-Catanzaro railway line and the Sibari-Porto Salvo in Calabria». This is what we read in an official statement from the Calabrian dem. «This is yet another proof of how much the League, which conditions the Meloni government, is dangerous for national unity and for the future of the South. Just recently – they continue – the Carroccio had pushed to reduce the sums to the bone of the Pnrr already destined for the southern regions and accelerated on the project of differentiated autonomy, which, in disregard of the foundations of the Constitution, aims to impoverish the South to enrich the North. In Parliament and in the squares we will continue to fight against these maneuvers by the Northern League ministers, endorsed by the resignation of the other government forces and by the embarrassing silence of the various centre-right representatives, who continue to deny or hide the events and the needs of the citizens and southern territories , in particular of Calabria», they conclude.
Furgiuele (Lega): “No work will be cancelled”
«For the umpteenth time, the Republic is using the instrument of slander against the government and Minister Salvini in particular. No work will be cancelled, neither in the South nor in the North: in addition to the projects already envisaged, there is the determination to build the bridge over the Strait which will guarantee at least 100,000 jobs, especially in Calabria and Sicily». This was stated by the deputy group leader of the League in the Chamber, Domenico Furgiuele, secretary of the Transport Commission.
Palaia and Buccolieri (city councilors of Catanzaro): “Salvini steals from the South to give to the North and what is Mancuso doing?”
Harsh note from the municipal councilors of Catanzaro Daniela Palaia and Gregorio Buccolieri: “The already planned upgrading of the Lamezia-Catanzaro line would make it possible to extend the long-distance north-south connections up to Catanzaro Lido without the need to change traction in the Sibari station . In this way, the infrastructural conditions would be created for a reinterpretation of the model of local public transport services, making a very important step forward for the benefit of the entire central area and the capital city. But what did the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Matteo Salvini think of doing? He has canceled the intervention already planned carrying out a real theft against our land and, as usual, for the exclusive benefit of the north. We ask ourselves: does the president of the regional council, the highest exponent of the League in Calabria, Filippo Mancuso, feel no disturbance for this act? What did he do or what will he actually do to prevent it? Will he make the voice of the territory that expressed it heard? How did he act, if he acted, to protect and guarantee an already planned intervention that was canceled with a clean slate? Or, is his only concern distracted by putting the flag on entertainment initiatives carried out in the seaside district of Catanzaro thanks to the fundamental contribution of the Municipal Administration and then forgetting even to acknowledge it? It is evident that without the expansion of that route the tourist, the first beneficiary of the attractions and entertainment, would really give up on arriving in Catanzaro marina. And then, everyone for their part defend tooth and nail what was expected for the South and prevent it from being brought to the North, without being conditioned by their own partisan interests. But the League is a disgrace! And the whole city knows it very well”.
Mancuso: “Fake news, no hoaxes”
“No work will suffer cancellations or financial decreases. Not in the North and not even in the South where, contrary to the fake news put into circulation, everything proceeds as planned. Work is being done on infrastructures that have been dormant for decades and the commitment to the Strait Bridge has now come out of the mists in which it had been thrown, to become a concrete and real project. The Government and Minister Salvini – says the President of the Regional Council Filippo Mancuso – are giving back to the country and above all to the South the right to the future that had been denied up to now. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the ‘hoaxes’ spread, also because in the territories there are always those who, by emulation or mental confusion, are ready to foment the language of hatred and intolerance. And he indulges in jokes unworthy of a civilized country and disrespectful of the will of the electorate. I am thinking – underlines President Mancuso – of the two municipal councilors of Catanzaro, Palaia and Buccolieri who, starting from the ‘hoax’ of the reduction of funding in the South, define the League as a disgrace. Regardless of the merits of the question, the two exemplars of Catanzaro neo-transformism (just recently the mayor of the city changed the DNA of his majority to include elements of the center and defectors from the centre-right) should be taught some basic lessons of democracy. Among other things, reminding the two forgetful people (and the eventual principal) that without the contribution, financial and ideas from the Region, from myself and therefore from the League, after a year of bankruptcy government of the capital of Calabria, the city would be totally in disarray”.