Brussels, 23/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - French Green Party MEPs Karima Delli and Michèle Rivasi have called on the French and Italian governments to stop the project for the TGV rail line between Lyon and Turin.
On Monday 23 February they sent a letter to the respective French and Italian presidents, François Hollande and Sergio Mattarella, to request “a halt to the construction and respective spending and to concentrate all efforts on the existing rail line”. They sharply criticise the lack of records for the costs and “irresponsible approximations regarding the major work”. They also point out that investigation procedures were recently begun by the European antifraud office (OLAF) into this project. The MEPs conclude, “In all decency, you are unable to take responsibility for committing further spending” and emphasised that every kilometre of this railway line “would cost the price of a hospital measuring 60,000 m²”.
This letter was sent the day before the annual Franco-Italian summit at which the two countries are expected to reaffirm the priority given to the Lyon-Turin link. It is also possible that on 26 February, the two countries may submit a joint request to the European Commission for co-funding, as part of the first call for projects within the Connecting Europe Facility. (Marie-Pauline Desset)