Brussels, 04/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - French President François Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti have reaffirmed their resolve to support the planned high speed railway line between Lyon (France) and Turin (Italy). The subject featured high on the agenda of the meeting at the summit between Hollande and Monti in Lyon on Monday 3 December. The two countries therefore confirm their financial commitment - but European funding remains unsettled. The project still causes great protest and is particularly disliked by the Greens.
Joint statement. Monti and Hollande met in Lyon to discuss important infrastructure plans and more precisely the 57 km tunnel between their two countries, which should reduce travelling time between Lyon and Turin by one hour and attract road freight to rail. The French and Italian transport ministers signed a join statement at the same time concerning this rail link. French minister Frédéric Cuvillier affirmed that they were both signing “the commitment of the two countries” and reaffirmed “the interest of the railway tunnel for goods to be transported by rail”.
European funding? While it is a matter of “moving on to the next stage” in Hollande's view, it still remains for the EU to be persuaded to finance 40% of the work - the total amount forecast for this project being €8.5 billion (€2.2 billion from France and €2.9 billion from Italy). However, at this stage, the Commission remains cautious. Helen Kearns, the spokesperson for European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said on 4 December that it depends on the agreement on the next multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020, and especially “on the support of the heads of state - in this case France and and Italy - for the Connecting Europe Facility”.
Pointless in the Greens' opinion. Opposition to this project is very strong in the regions concerned and, surprisingly, the Greens in the European Parliament do not support this rail link either. The Greens believe the project is “pointless at the exorbitant costs” and they draw attention to alternatives for goods transport, such as “the improvement of infrastructures, intermodal freight platforms, the growth of supply in trains, and protection mechanisms against risk and harm”. French MEP Karim Zeribi considers that “we could rather finance several smaller scale structure projects which, when joined together, give coherence to intermodality in Europe” (our translation throughout). (MD/transl.fl)