Meloni and Salvini lash out at court docket ruling and vow to forge forward with development of bridge.
Italy’s audit court docket on Wednesday rejected the federal government’s plan to construct a bridge between mainland Italy and Sicily in a setback for the contentious infrastructure undertaking.
The ruling casts doubt on the viability of the €13.5 billion construction which, if constructed, would span 3.3 kilometres throughout the Strait of Messina and would grow to be the world’s longest suspension bridge.
The audit court docket, which oversees public spending, rejected the decision by the governmental financial planning committee CIPESS which permitted the huge infrastructure undertaking in August.
Magistrates reportedly raised issues in regards to the procedures adopted by the federal government, significantly relating to exemptions from environmental safety restrictions in addition to the elevated prices for the development of the bridge and associated tasks, equivalent to roads and railways.
Response
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni slammed the court docket’s determination as “insupportable interference”, describing it on X as “yet one more act of judicial overreach over the alternatives of the federal government and parliament”.
Meloni insisted that her administration had addressed all of the technical questions raised by the court docket and that the ruling wouldn’t halt the deliberate bridge.
La mancata registrazione da parte della Corte dei Conti della delibera CIPESS riguardante il Ponte sullo Stretto è l’ennesimo atto di invasione della giurisdizione sulle scelte del Governo e del Parlamento. Sul piano tecnico, i ministeri interessati e la Presidenza del Consiglio…
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 29, 2025
Deputy premier and transport minister Matteo Salvini, who resurrected the controversial development undertaking after it was scrapped a decade in the past over price range constraints, additionally hit out on the ruling in a submit on X.
Describing it as “a severe blow to the nation”, Salvini stated the ruling “seems to be a political alternative relatively than a peaceful technical judgment”, stressing that the federal government is “decided to pursue all potential avenues to start out the works”.
Angelo Bonelli of the Inexperienced and Left Alliance, a vocal opponent of the bridge undertaking, hailed the ruling as a “nice victory for the rule of regulation” and known as for Salvini’s resignation.
What occurs subsequent?
Technically, even after the court docket’s destructive opinion, the federal government might nonetheless determine to maneuver ahead with the undertaking, in keeping with information company ANSA.
This might contain Meloni looking for a decision from the cupboard to override the court docket’s objections by deeming the transfer as being within the increased public curiosity.
The audit court docket is predicted to launch the total reasoning behind its ruling inside 30 days.
Criticism
Critics have raised issues in regards to the structural viability of the bridge in an earthquake-prone space in addition to its severe environmental influence and the danger of mafia infiltration.
The undertaking has additionally confronted criticism over its exorbitant price, with opponents arguing that the cash might be higher spent elsewhere, equivalent to in healthcare or by bettering present railway infrastructure.
Plans to construct a bridge between Messina and Calabria date again to Roman occasions and have been rejected by earlier governments as a result of excessive prices and engineering impracticability.
