(2004/C 78 E/0705)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3862/03

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(8 December 2003)

Subject:   Community funding for the bridge over the Straits of Messina

With more than five million inhabitants Sicily is the most heavily populated island in the Mediterranean.

Although the bridge over the Straits of Messina is not a cross-border project it is a fundamental link in the Berlin-Palermo transport axis.

The concessionaire Stretto di Messina SpA has drawn up a financial plan without any public contribution and will therefore proceed according to the announced timetable, starting with the selection of the general contractor at the beginning of 2004.

A European contribution to the funding of investments would make the project easier to carry out by reducing the financial risks and the time needed to pay off the investment, and would hence improve the overall feasibility.

Excluding the bridge project from the ‘quick-start list’ would entail a considerable financial burden to be borne by the users alone.

The important Declaration No 30 annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty, mentioned by the French Presidency in Nice in December 2000, ‘recognises that island regions suffer from structural handicaps linked to their island status, the permanence of which impairs their economic and social development’.

In view of this does the Commission not consider that it should once again consider including the bridge over the Straits of Messina among the major projects benefiting from Community funding?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(9 January 2004)

Financing of transport infrastructure in Southern Italy falls within the ambit of the National Transport Operational Programme and the Regional Operational Programmes.

For the period 2000-2006 EUR 1 801 313 000 has been allocated from the European Regional Development Fund for projects in the National Programme and EUR 1 058 479 469 from the same Fund for transport infrastructure covered by the Regional Programmes. More specifically, the Fund's contribution to transport projects under the Calabrian and Sicilian programmes has been set at EUR 1 36 048 000 and EUR 295 376 000 respectively.

Selection of the infrastructure projects to be financed is a matter for the national and regional authorities running the Operational Programmes. For that purpose the national and regional planning instruments for the sector are used (general document on transport and logistics, regional transport plans).

A bridge over the Straits of Messina is not at present included in the projects selected by the Italian authorities for Community financing in implementation of the Operational Programmes managed by the Transport Ministry and Calabria and Sicily Regions.

On 1 October 2003 the Commission however proposed further modifications of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) guidelines and the TEN-T financial rules that are designed to facilitate agreement by Council and Parliament so that, as requested by the European Council, amended provisions can enter into force as soon as possible. The Commission's aims are adjustment to the post-enlargement situation and concentration of resources on priority projects. Among the 29 such projects scheduled in the new proposal for implementation by 2020 is the mixed (passenger and freight) rail axis Berlin-Verona/Milan-Bologna-Naples-Messina-Palermo, including a bridge over the Straits of Messina.