Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli
has sacked an expert who disagreed with the conclusions of a
cost/benefit analysis he helped draft on the Turin-Lyon
high-speed rail (TAV) line, the ministry said Monday confirming
a Messaggero report.
The cost/benefit report came down against completing the
controversial line saying it would mean a net loss of 7-8
billion euros for Italy.
This bolstered the anti-TAV case of the 5-Star Movement
(M5S), of which Toninelli is a prominent member.
The M5S's government partner the League, on the other hand,
dismissed the report and said Italy must go ahead with the TAV.
Toninelli dismissed cost/benefit analysis commission member
Pierluigi Coppola because he allegedly "breached confidentiality
rules by giving unauthorised interviews and above all there
remains a shadow over him, regarding the fake counter-dossier
with wrong numbers on the cost/benefit analysis which was
attributed to him by the press and which he denied being the
author of, without asking for a correction from the newspapers".
The centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) and the
centre-right opposition Forza Italia (FI) party of ex-premier
Silvio Berlusconi said Coppola had been purged "in a vendetta"
and his sacking was "concerning".
League leader and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said "it
seems to me that the Italians have asked for more yeses, and if
the one act of Minister Toninelli on the TAV is to sack the only
professor in favour, I really don't think it's on."
photo: Toninelli
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
