After a demanding electoral campaign and a heart-pounding count due to the narrowness of the victory, it is time for regional politics, the President of the Region and the future Council, to get to work. Sardinia is waiting for nothing else. An entire regional community has long been demanding complete, rapid, effective, strong and clear responses.
At this start of the legislature, it is useful to reiterate, the ability of the governor to assume responsibility for clear and transparent choices on issues that concern the present and future of the Island is needed, while the opposition has the task of control and constructive participation in the choices. In the exclusive interest of Sardinia.
It is the task of information to contribute to the clarity and completeness of the positions in the field but also to inform public opinion about the coherence and correspondence between declared and executed, analyzing their meanings and consequences, economic, social and strategic implications.
As we demonstrated with the editorial line during the recent electoral campaign, an example of balance and professionalism of the editorial staff of L'Unione Sarda, Videolina, Radiolina and website. Balance and professionalism recognized by almost all the main political forces. On the other hand, it could not have been otherwise, due to the responsibility that comes from the over one million certified daily contacts.
For this reason, with the frankness that characterizes me for better or for worse, but with the due caution for the start of the legislature, I would like to return to one of the topics addressed by President Todde in the interview published on Easter Sunday: management control of the Cagliari airport in favor of a private entity, which, with those of Olbia and Alghero already owned, would become the sole holder of the keys to enter and exit Sardinia.
From the interview I appreciated balance and awareness of problems that are not easy to face and solve. At the same time, however, I was quite surprised by the news made public of the meeting - while negotiations are underway for the formation of the new regional council - that he would have had with the aspiring private monopolist F2i and the Chamber of Commerce, aspiring transferor the public management company, according to him to understand the situation and the various opinions well, including that of the Court of Auditors.
I am referring, again out of my own frankness and hoping for a misunderstanding between the interviewee and the interviewer, to the reported statement according to which (...the assets created with public money must remain in the possession of the public; management is a different matter. ..). Position substantially coinciding with that of the aspiring monopolist and the aspiring transferor.
Since some confusion has arisen between ownership of the asset and its management, I allow myself to make some considerations.
The ownership of the airport infrastructure does not need to be defended: it is a public asset given under concession, it is and will remain public, whoever manages it. What changes everything is the management, from public to private, not the physical infrastructural assets. Nobody wants to take over the walls.
The strategic issue for the island's economy, to be even clearer, is whether the management of the airport infrastructure should continue to guarantee a service of public interest or ensure substantial returns to a private individual without having made investments and without going through a public tender , as is appropriate for the correct and transparent management of the privatization process of a collective asset.
If the new regional council gives its approval to the operation, it will have favored the creation of a monopoly on the entire Sardinian airport system in addition to the air system, to the advantage of a few and to the detriment of an entire community, as the passengers who travel well know despite themselves. they have to travel for work, health, study, leisure, business, etc.
Sardinia cannot afford that much.
If I have to travel from Milan to Rome or Venice and vice versa, I can go by plane, but also by train, bus, car, motorbike, bicycle, scooter and even on foot, and with a wide choice of means and fares. In this case it would matter little if the management of the Veneto airports were monopolistic. It would have no consequences on the exercise of citizens' right to mobility and on the tariff system, as there are a plurality of means competing with each other.
Instead, to move from Sardinia to Milan or Rome and vice versa I only have two options: plane or ship. With rates set by the monopolist, both naval and air. If I want to go in or out today I have to knock on his door hoping he's in a good mood, because often he doesn't answer. The regional airport monopoly, if allowed, will complete the pattern of external dependence for choice, number and quality of airlines, amplifying the disadvantage of insularity. There is no alternative: public infrastructures providing critical services for citizens and businesses cannot be managed by private monopolies.
Most of the institutional subjects, bodies and trade associations have expressed opposition to this operation, without ifs or buts: Court of Auditors, Court, Enac, Supervisory and Control Bodies, Confcommercio, Confesercenti, Tourism Employers' Organisations, Trade Unions, Mayors and Municipalities. Here it is not a question of "not fearing synergies", as stated, but rather of forcefully and without subterfuge rejecting the attempt of a very specific power group to take possession of the access keys to the Island.
Many of us will never be able to understand an operation that involves the transfer of value, to a private entity and with sophisticated corporate operations, of a public airport management company which in 2022, among other things, made profits of over 15 million euros . That some can even imagine it, to the detriment of their own community, truly remains a mystery.
Sardinia, therefore, is a vulnerable island that must be defended in its entrance gates and its connections with the rest of the world and, for future reference, in its most precious asset, the environment, with the obligation of reclamation if polluted, and the landscape, as a fundamental asset for its economic growth.
I am confident that everyone, from the beginning of this legislature, will commit themselves in this direction, to support and support the good work of the first female President of the Sardinia Region.
Sergio Zuncheddu
