11/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has denied Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's statements in Turin on Friday 5 October that he had been given confirmation of the award of funding for the high speed train link between Lyons in France and Turin in northern Italy. According to reports in French newspaper Les Echos, the mayor of Turin, Sergio Chiamparino wrote in La Stampa newspaper on Friday that according to highly reliable sources, the EU was prepared to give the go-ahead to the funding requested by Italy. In July 2007, France and Italy submitted a joint request to the EU for €725 million for the joint section of the cross-border rail link, which is part of one of the big priorities of the trans-European transport networks (see EUROPE 9470). A spokesperson for the EU's transport commissioner denied these statements, explaining that the decision was currently 'being analysed' and the outcome of all the requests for EU funding for the TEN-T would be published in the second half of November 2007. (aby)