To fly or not to fly? We are islanders and isolated: must this be the fate of the Sardinian people? Despite the acknowledgment of the principle of insularity in the Constitution, presented as the solution "to the ills" of the island, in the matter of air and sea transport to and from Sardinia , the total absence of relevant developments has continued for years , unfortunately confirming the persistence of the usually insurmountable geographical "gap".

The European Union, which would appear to have "disappeared" for its part, would seem to have long since found a way to "go beyond" the structural and by now endemic problem of the reference air and sea transport through system policies that are probably indifferent, so to speak, almost tending to obliterate, suffocating them in their application, the cardinal principles contained in their Institutional Treaties. There is always talk of the need to guarantee the Sardinian people's right to mobility by removing the obstacles of a material nature directly deriving from the insular condition, but more often than not it has been done, perhaps, by referring, probably not exhaustively, to the EEC Regulation 3577/92 with reference to maritime transport, and to Regulation 1008/2008, with reference to air transport which, upon closer consideration, would appear not to contain the slightest reference to insularity as a condition of geographical-natural "limit" to be counter .

It would have been, and probably is, preferable to draw the attention of the European institutions to the all-round compliance with articles 170 and 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, if only in order to try to fill that reference with valid and effective contents to the much desired insularity and today roughly contained in our Constitutional Charter. Where, in fact, the reference to insularity fails to find its link with the Community principle of economic and social cohesion, what territorial uniformity and/or continuity do we want to expect to talk about?

Let's be clearer: if the goal is to pursue, implementing it on a practical level to be experienced in all its effectiveness, so to speak, the so-called "territorial continuity", appropriately understood as the ability to guarantee transport services suitable for not compromising the position of subjects residing in the context of territories characterized by obvious criticalities, then, it would seem to appear in all its self-evident evidence that "transport" , considered in and of itself, in its configuration as an activity of an economic nature, inevitably ends up constituting the a key element of the "right to mobility" provided for and guaranteed by article 16 of the Constitution , and therefore such as to be guaranteed to all citizens regardless of their geographical location.

The impression, on the other hand, that would seem to derive from it (the conditional tense is a must), also judging from the very current "comparison" between the various airlines that would like to win the service, is that we continue to want to focus the core of the problem on the plan for the compensation of the economic deficit that the companies themselves would be called upon to support in order to ensure the requested service, looking at the finger instead of at the Moon , rather than focusing attention on the quality and quantity of the same under conditions of effective equality with the citizens peninsular and European.

The impression, and nothing else can be if not an impression, is that up to now there would seem to be a lack of an intervention plan on the subject , precise and careful planning of the regime and of the model of continuity to be implemented in order to be able to ensure the full implementation of the principle of "mobility" even regardless of the probably secondary creation of the so-called "single tariff", as well as the effective participation, which to date would seem to be lacking, of the Local Authorities directly involved in the definition of the routes. After all, we know: acting in concert means sharing solutions by widening the decision-making audience. Where concertation at various levels is lacking, no useful result can be achieved.

And then let us ask ourselves a question: what has changed, if anything has changed, since 1998 to today, when the Deputy Dr. Antonio Attili implemented the law on territorial air continuity from and to Sardinia operational since 2000? Over the years, has it been possible to develop the necessary political culture to allow its interpreters, regardless of their political color, to face the complexity of the typical problems of the reference sector, going beyond any sterile debate? If the risk were to be overwhelmed by the rules of the free market, how can we ever defend ourselves? It is clear that our fast and ordinary means of transport to reach the peninsula can never be a train, even if it is of the latest generation, but only and exclusively an airplane, consequently the right to be able to use it at subsidized costs must be guaranteed, equal to those employed by any Italian resident in the peninsula who needs to use a high-speed train to reach the coveted destination. Does that mean asking too much? I would say no. We are not only Sardinians, we are Italians with equal right to be "harmonically connected" with the rest of the national territory.

What does the newly appointed Transport Minister intend to do? Do we intend to continue wanting to almost subtly and imperceptibly justify the absence of a truly decisive intervention, simply by reducing the problem to a mere numerical datum, scarcely relevant with good likelihood, but which must in any case be guaranteed and protected? As before and more than before isolated, or closely interconnected? It is conceivable that even in the year 2023 there are territories that are part of the national context that remain disconnected from it in a condition of almost under-development as they are destined to suffer from a constant structural deficit that cannot be overcome otherwise except through massive state intervention and before that European? We are the ultra-periphery of Europe, and as such we have the right to enjoy the benefits of the relevant legislation. In terms of transport, the real challenge, and the only real victory, would be to resolve the isolation of the Sardinian people. Sardinia needs immediate support, privileged attention being compromised in its ability to interface with the rest of the national territory, and to be able to do so on equal terms. Will the new executive make itself available for confrontation on several levels with competence and a sense of heartfelt responsibility?

Josephine Di Salvatore

(lawyer - Nuoro)

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