Former Italian EU Minister Sandro Gozi branded eurosceptic Interior Minister Matteo Salvini “ridiculous” over attempts to blame the European Union for the Genoa bridge collapse.
Mr Salvini suggested that EU budget-spending limitations had stopped the Italian Government from investing in the restructuration of the Ponte Morandi, leading to its deadly breakdown.
Asked whether he thought the Interior Minister was scapegoating Brussels, Mr Gozi told the Today programme: “That’s exactly what he did, not only with the private company but also with the European Union.
“It is totally ridiculous what Salvini said, blaming the European Union because they wouldn’t allow us to spend and to invest in infrastructure.”
The former Eurocrat, who served in the EU Commission for ten years before returning to Italian politics in 2006, said the bloc had given Italy nearly €23 billion to invest in infrastructure.
The Commission also reported the Italian Government to the European Court in 2017 over alleged violations to competition laws for automatically renewing the contract of the Autostrade Italiane company managing the motorway passing over the Genoa bridge.
Mr Gozi continued: “The European Union gave us €14 billion to invest in infrastructure and authorised, under our Government, another €8.5 billion of investment in infrastructure.
“This is totally ridiculous. Those are the statements that give a really bad image of our country and increase our political isolation.”
Following his inflammatory statement against the EU, Mr Salvini toned down his attack towards Brussels but insisted Italy does not need the “wild EU budget limitations.”
Mr Salvini said: “Italy needs at least €40 billion to invest and we will need to start calm and positive discussions with the international organisation.
“This is money Italy needs to be able to spend without wild EU budget limitations because this is a priority and opportunity for them. It’s dramatic to talk about this so shortly after the tragedy but let’s hope it was not for naught.”
At least 39 people died when the Ponte Morandi suddenly collapsed on August 14 flinging 35 cars 300 m unto the ground. Emergency teams on Friday said the rescue operation had turned into a recovery mission as up to 20 people remain missing.
Experts from the Politecnico di Milano suggested the breakdown could have been caused by faulty tie-beams and poor maintenance.
The engineering school in 2017 had warned the beams in the collapsed section appeared to be “deformed” and had to be reinforced.