Italian court rejects government’s €13.5 billion Sicily bridge plan

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s €13.5 billion plan to connect the island of Sicily to the mainland is in jeopardy after the country’s audit court rejected the proposal.

The Rome court, tasked with evaluating state-funded projects to prevent the waste of public funds, did not explain the reason for its decision but stated that a full written ruling would be released within 30 days.

The decision is a major blow to Meloni’s right-wing government, which has promoted the project as a symbol of its commitment to strengthening infrastructure in the impoverished south.

The government had also argued that the 3.3 km long bridge was essential for national security and would help Italy meet its commitment to increase defense spending.

Following the ruling, Meloni and her deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, emphasized that the project would proceed.

The judges had previously raised numerous concerns about the government’s approach to reviving the decades-old bridge project, which was canceled in 2012 during Italy’s debt crisis.

Among other issues, the judges had questioned Rome’s decision to award a €10.6 billion contract to the Milan-listed construction company Webuild based on a 2005 tender process, without conducting a new one.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the judges also expressed concerns about the project’s financial sustainability, suggesting that costs were not accurately specified and that the documents supporting the estimates were incomplete and outdated.

Judge Carmela Mirabella warned that launching the project without adequate funding could lead to an interruption that would be “particularly detrimental to the state’s finances.”

A few hours after the court’s decision was announced, Meloni and her allies accused the judges of overstepping their authority. The Prime Minister’s Office stated that the decision was “another interference by the judiciary into the choices of the government and parliament,” calling their rejection of the project’s validity an “intolerable intrusion” and asserting that it “will not stop the government’s actions.”

Salvini, the project’s biggest advocate, described the ruling as “a serious blow to the country” and “more of a political choice than an impartial technical judgment.” He also pledged that the government would “pursue all possible avenues to start the work.”

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, leader of the coalition party Forza Italia, said on social media that “in a democratic country, it is unacceptable for the audit court to decide which strategic projects are to be carried out.”

Italian nationalists have dreamed of connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland since the 19th century. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and one of Italy’s 20 regions.

In 2006, the late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed a €3.8 billion contract with the Milan-listed construction company Impregilo to build a bridge. This company was later acquired by Webuild.

After the bridge project was canceled, Impregilo sued Rome for €700 million in damages.

The Meloni government, which came to power in 2022, began efforts to revive the project. Webuild had offered to withdraw its lawsuit against Rome if the project was revived, but the plan has faced fierce local opposition, including from hundreds of property owners whose homes would be expropriated.

Pietro Ciucci, the general manager of Stretto di Messina, the state-owned company expected to operate the bridge, called the court’s decision a “huge surprise” and asserted that “the entire process was conducted in full compliance with the Italian and European general and special regulations governing bridge construction.”