28/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Silvio Berlusconi has requested that the European Commission open immediately a negotiation session in order to tackle the issues of Alpine passes in a structural and global manner, states a press release. Affected by the closure of the Mont Blanc tunnels towards France and the Gothard towards Switzerland, Italy considers it is penalised by the lack of a concrete, coordinated response. The spokesperson for Loyola de Palacio replied stressing that the Commission shares Italy's concerns, but that the reopening of the tunnels does not come under its competence. He noted that the Lyon-Turin rail tunnel is one of the priorities of the trans-European networks and that the Commission expects France and Italy to make political and financial choices for launching the work. He also recalled that the Alpine countries adopted a declaration in December on improving transport in the region (see EUROPE of 5 December, p.18).