The key points
- The opinion of the Advocacy
- The reactions of the Toto group
The clamor for the revocation of the concession to the Toto group for the Abruzzo A24 (Rome-L’Aquila-Teramo) and A25 (Torano-Pscara) motorways has not subsided. The revocation took place through a decree law passed on Thursday 7 July by the Council of Ministers. On Friday 8 July, at the ABI assembly, the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, questioned by some interlocutors about the government blitz on Strada dei Parchi (the concessionaire company), confessed that he had doubts about the provision, so much so that he asked the Attorney General of the State for an opinion.
The opinion of the Advocacy
Il Sole 24 Ore has recovered the document exclusively: it is 10 pages signed by the Advocate General Gabriella Palmieri Sandulli in which not recommended the minister to directly sign a decree of revocation, the reasons for which are not recognized, leaving the ministry in charge, that is Mims (Infrastructures), to take this eventuality. The Advocacy suggests that the Mef sign only a decree that regulates the consequences of the revocation. And in fact it happened like this: the revocation act (the famous article 35 of the 2019 law written after the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa) belongs to Mims, while the government decree establishes what happens after the revocation (takeover of Anas, etc.). In practice, the Advocacy warns the Mef of the high risk of unconstitutionality of the law.
The reactions of the Toto group
After the statement issued on Thursday evening, no official communication leaks from the top of the Toto group. But three lines of behavior emerge from the Chieti headquarters.
The first: full cooperationwithout any obstruction, with l’Anas – which on Friday morning showed up at the Strada dei Parchi headquarters in Rome, even escorted by Digos – which is entrusted with the task of managing the two Abruzzo motorways. However, the theme is this: is Anas structured to manage A24-A25, given that the decree provides for the possibility of using the employees of Strada dei Parchi with the exclusion of managers? If an accident should happen, who is responsible for it? Or if an operational decision needs to be made, who makes it? (It should be remembered that the privatization was made twenty years ago after the double default of a company 100% controlled by Anas that managed the two highways).
The second: the Totos have put a bevy of lawyers to work to prepare appeals urgent both at national and European level (also considering that the granting of the concession took place with a European tender in 2000) against the government blitz. A heated dispute is expected.