Venice, 8 March 2016 – Graziano Delrio, Minister of Infrastructures and Transport of Italy and Alain Vidalies, Secretary of State for Transport, Sea and Fisheries, have clearly reaffirmed today, at the Italian-French Summit in Venice, that the implementation of the Turin-Lyon Railway Line has become a priority for their Governments, as witnessed by the conclusion of the Additional Protocol on the sharing and indexation of the project’s costs and the fight against mafia infiltrations in procurement contracts, which was signed in the afternoon at the presence of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Fran?ois Hollande.
As for the fight against mafia infiltrations, the Ministers took this opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to fight with the utmost firmness against organized crime as well as preventing any risk of mafia infiltrations in procurement contracts and in the execution of contracts for the implementation of the important work-site of the cross-border sections. To this purpose, Ministers have given mandate to the Inter-Governmental Commission to prepare, within three months, a New Regulation on Procurement Contracts which will also be inspired by the most relevant national provisions in this sector and in particular by those provided for by the Italian Law, considering their compliance with European Community Law, in order to exclude all companies which may be influenced by mafia practices.
The process of parliamentary ratification in the two States is expected to be launched firmly in view of its entry into force by 2016, in order to respect the timetable agreed with the EU Commission.
As for the Frejus Tunnel, both Ministers took note of the progresses made in the safety works implementation, stressing the importance of completing them by 2019.
Ministers also welcomed the bilateral cooperation aiming at encouraging the modal shift of freight transport from road to rail.
As regards the “Alpine Railway Highway” (AFA), Ministers welcomed the allocation of their Countries’ budgets of the funds needed to continue the existing services.
On the one hand, they have reaffirmed the importance of rapidly finalizing the acts required for the ratification of the 2009 Agreement and on the other hand the importance of jointly working in order to develop a legal framework for facilitating the moving from the current transitional regime to the final one. Finally, the Ministers are committed to implementing, through the current financial resources, the upgrading works for the existing terminals in order to support the development of the new services to be performed by rail operators.
As for Cuneo-Breil-Ventimiglia railway link, the Ministers are committed to continue negotiations with the aim of updating the 1970 Convention between Italy and France, in line with the European Community Law in order to make the maintenance conditions of the railway line permanent as well as the safety operations to be carried on it.
Ministers Delrio and Vidalies also had an exchange of views on EU topical such as: the European Strategy on Aviation, the Railway Package, the Port Services’ Regulation and future initiatives in road sector, with the aim of developing a shared European vision on the areas falling within their competence.
