Transport Minister Matteo Salvini and Industry Commissioner Adina-Ioana Valean penned an agreement on Monday to secure funding for a bridge connecting Sicily with the rest of Italy and the European continent.

The Strait of Messina Bridge, which, if constructed, would connect the island to the mainland, was initially proposed in the 1990s but faced many hurdles and delays.

“The bridge over the Strait of Messina is the stable link between Sicily and the continent. It is something that is a priority for me, for the government and millions of Italians”, Salvini, leader of League and the deputy prime minister, told the EU Council on Monday in his capacity as infrastructure and transport minister.

According to the minister, the project is also of great interest to the European Commission and other European countries, who would see the bridge as a completion of a “fundamental European corridor” between the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.

Salvini promises to open the construction sites in two years.

“We are bringing the company (which will build the bridge) back to life, after years and years of forced hiatus. I give the directions and take on the honour and burden of making a choice: then there are engineers who (…) will work on the project”, the minister explained.

In this way, it will be possible to go back to Brussels to “understand how much can be subsidised” by the European Union, which seems ready to lend a hand.

Valean, for her part, said she was “honoured” to be able to concretely help Italy in the start-up of the project as long as a solid financial plan is formalised.

The Industry Commissioner also emphasised that the bridge project had long since been included among the infrastructures that could be financed in the Trans-European Transport Network (Ten-T).

“After fifty years of words, many conferences and many millions spent, we have every intention of proceeding”, Salvini added.

Other strategic infrastructures are on the agenda of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, such as the new railway line from Turin to Lyon and the European financing of the Brenner tunnel.

“Italy is a protagonist because several routes are in the corridors of European interest”, Salvini added, also referring to the Trieste-Ljubljana railway line and the commercial port of Civitavecchia, near Rome.

(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it)

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