"To the Court of Auditors, I want to say that I was frankly a little intrigued by some of the comments, such as the one where they asked why we shared part of the documentation via a link, because they would be tempted to reply 'because the internet exists.' After that, the government is waiting for the comments, it will respond to the comments. Let's be clear: the goal is to build the Messina Strait Bridge, which is a strategic project; it will be a unique engineering feat in the world."

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this in an interview with Tg1.

The story

The Court of Auditors has rejected the Strait of Messina Bridge project. After a lengthy deliberation, the accounting magistrates decided not to grant the necessary approval and registration of the CIPESS resolution approved in August, which gave the green light to the final project. "A political choice and a serious loss for the country," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini immediately commented, "but we will move forward."

"A great victory for the rule of law. Salvini must resign," urges Angelo Bonelli, leader of the AVS party, one of the main opponents of the project and threatening to appeal to the European Court of Justice if the project goes ahead. Technically, even with a negative opinion from the Court of Auditors, the government can still decide to move forward with the project. Indeed, it is explained, if the review concerns a government act, according to the law, the affected administration, in the event of a refusal to register it by the Court of Auditors, can request a specific resolution from the Council of Ministers, which, in turn, may deem the act to be in a higher public interest and should proceed anyway. Among the various issues under scrutiny by the magistrates are financial coverage, the reliability of traffic estimates, the final project's compliance with environmental and anti-seismic regulations, and European rules on exceeding the initial cost by 50%.

According to reports, several objections were raised during the meeting of the Central Section of the Court by Councilor Carmela Mirabella, including the issue of the jurisdiction of CIPESS, considered a "political" body. Meanwhile, during a heated question time in the Chamber of Deputies, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, explained that "the Court of Auditors has decided to submit the assessment to the Central Control Section," but "this decision does not change the November 7th deadline for the registration decision." He then emphasized that the work done on the project "has been serious, thorough, and transparent, in compliance with Italian and European standards; environmental regulations have been respected," and "the bridge will save time, money, and health. " Therefore, "there has been no violation, no withdrawal of the CIPESS resolution," he stated.

"My commitment is to build this bridge and do it well," Salvini assured, once again clashing with AVS MP Angelo Bonelli, who had raised questions about the €13.5 billion project and branded the project "26 years old." "The CIPESS resolution contains serious illegalities that have been highlighted by the Court of Auditors, and in a normal country, a government that respects the law and institutions would have withdrawn the bridge project, which deprives citizens of €15 billion after cutting funding for public transport," Bonelli attacked. "If we had adopted his 'no' policies, we wouldn't have the Autostrada del Sole and the AV highway, but we would be running amok in our country," the minister retorted.

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