ROMA – The bridge over the Strait of Messina splits the 5 Star Movement. During the assembly of parliamentary groups, convened precisely to discuss the work (once disliked by the M5S, as the Rousseau Association remembers today on the Blog of the Stars), the undersecretary for Infrastructure Giancarlo Cancelleri asks to put aside the ideological positions and proposes to open a permanent table on the topic: “I heard Giuseppe Conte, we discussed and we came together to the conclusion that a Commission should be established to analyze the issue from a technical and political point of view”, says the former Sicilian regional councilor which ensures that he does not want to divide the Movement.
“In the next weeks – he adds – I will start the general states of Sicilian infrastructures: I want to hear Sicilian politics, trade associations, entrepreneurs, mayors “. And again:” You cannot put aside the ambitions of a population and a Movement that in the 2017 at the regional in Sicily took 36% and in 2018 49%: we did not take these votes by saying no but by building them, things “.
Cancelleri’s words light up the assembly. The interview with the undersecretary he had already created discontent: and during the meeting both the regent Vito Crimi and the group leaders Davide Crippa and Ettore Licheri do not fail to stigmatize what is branded as an inappropriate exit. From the audience of the elect, connected by videoconference, a chorus of no to the bridge arrives. But there is no shortage, especially among Sicilians, who marries Cancelleri’s aperturista line.
The president of the Transport Commission of the Senate Mauro Coltorti, full professor of geomorphology, is categorical: such a work cannot be built in a landslide area, one of the most critical in Italy. For his colleague Ruggiero Quarto, a geologist, it is premature to speak of a bridge over the Strait today: madness, he says, given the lack of knowledge of the site. The Calabrian Federica Dieni, opposed to the work, sentences: Cancelleri was incorrect and the Movement must clarify whether that of the undersecretary was only a personal position.
The former Minister of Health Giulia Grillo, deputy from Catania, she threatens to take away the confidence of the government if the bridge passes the yes. Criticism also rains from other parliamentarians such as Andrea Cioffi, Giuseppe D’Ippolito, Giovanni Vianello, Danilo Toninelli: “Cancelleri’s departure has created enormous damage to the 5 Star Movement”, reiterated the former Minister of Infrastructure, “Giancarlo ne take note. Only by taking distance can you start from scratch and open a debate “.
“It seems crazy to me”, attacks the former undersecretary of the Mise Stefano Buffagni, “right now talking about a bridge over the Strait while they attack us from our site, while the priority is people, our businesses and vaccines“. “Sicily is last on vaccines and has gaps in health care: we must start from that and internal infrastructures before opening other chapters”, adds the Lombard deputy. “Your role resembles that of a regional councilor”, ironically Diego De Lorenzis turning to Cancelleri. The idea of an internal commission was judged “late” by Senator Gabriella Di Girolamo.
The Minister for Agricultural Policies Stefano Patuanelli is cautious: “The initiative to discuss Sicilian infrastructures is a good initiative if it starts from the assumption that, before considering that work, many other things must be considered. Not to say no a priori but to say that we will be judged for how we decide to allocate public resources “.
But from the reunion-relief voices are also raised in support of Cancelleri. Thanks to Giancarlo for having ignited the debate, it is enough to be subjected to choices by other parties, we must shake off the fact that we are those of the no regardless: this is the reasoning expressed by the deputy Generoso Maraia. The South is thirsty for works, observed the Campania parliamentarian, and we cannot wait for the rest to be ready. If we have to talk about a bridge only when the rest in Sicily has been done, Angela Raffa observes from Messina, then we condemn the Region to 10 years of backwardness.
“We want the infrastructure which are missing and which are useful to improve the terrible conditions in which our territory finds itself. Double-track railways, provincial roads and highways worthy of the name. We want the high speed Messina-Palermo, in addition to the Messina-Catania-Palermo. We want an infrastructural project for the South. In addition to this we also need mitigation works for the city of Messina “, the words of the commissioner of Montecitorio Francesco D’Uva.” I absolutely do not give priority to the bridge if the other infrastructures are not completed first ” but “I do not want to deny future generations the possibility of being able to enjoy a stable crossing”, the opinion of the Syracusan senator Giuseppe Pisani.
It closes at midnight about the joint M5s assembly convened on the question of the Messina Bridge with the invitation of the group leaders to organize a “table” of comparison, as announced by Cancelleri. “The impression is that we all agree that this table, which is also the idea of Giuseppe Conte, is a good idea: it will work without ideological prejudices but on the basis of technical data to understand if the work is a useful infrastructure for the country and not for a region, because we are parliamentarians of the Republic and we must look to the general interest ”, said the president of the senators, Ettore Licheri.
Even if at the end of the meeting, with the microphones open, many parliamentarians would have protested: «but what table! There are the competent commissions! ” many would have pointed out. Regent Vito Crimi, who has given up closing because, he allegedly said, “I’m at work with lawyers …” nevertheless clarified: “When we talk about the table we are referring to something broader, namely the infrastructural question of the South “.