Bridge collapse: pillar creaks

(ANSA) - Genoa, August 20 - The recovery of belongings from evacuated flats under Genoa's wrecked Morandi Bridge was suspended Monday after creaks were heard from the eastern pillar of the structure that collapsed killing 43 on August 14.
    Fire teams stopped their operations after the creaks were heard overnight and again Monday morning, local sources said.
    They were not noises caused by the wind, fire services said.
    Technical checks have been started.
    Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the government was "studying" the nationalisation of motorway operator Autostrade per l'Italia.
    "We are studying and working, we certainly won't give out the presents that some gave in the past, when some signed measures that allowed private companies to earn billions and made Italians pay billions," he said.
    The government is seeking to revoke the license of Autostrade, which is controlled by the Benetton group through the Atlantia group, after the disaster which sent shock waves across Italy and came after a string of less serious collapses in recent years.
    Atlantia on Monday plunged a theoretical 9% on the Milan bourse after being taken out of trading for excessive volatility yet again.
    Autostrade said Monday it was lifting toll payments across Genoa's highway network for the foreseeable future.
    There are already "many resources" in the EU's structural funds, the Juncker Plan and the Italian motorway plan, and "the issue is setting priorities," European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Monday.
    He was commenting on the Italian government's plan for infrastructure spending outside the EU's Stability and Growth Pact.
    "We will examine the stability bill (budget) on the basis of the rules and with one eye on the debt," Moscovici said.
    He said "constructive dialogue" with Economy Minister Giovanni Tria would continue on this. The previous Democratic Party (PD) led government hiked motorway maintenance by 80%, former transport minister Graziano Delrio said Monday.
    "Each of us must understand the limits of political action: we did a 130 billion infrastructure plan, we raised maintenance by 80%, but you don't always reap what you sow," he said.
    "This remains a fragile country," said the PD bigwig.
    Fire services reported issues with the Magliana Bridge in Rome in February, Salvini said Monday.
    "The firemen inspecting (the bridge) in February found some issues, a state of decay, and then the competent structure moved in April," he said on Italian TV.
    Salvini added: "now I will have a report sent to me".
    The centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) must "restart" from the jeers it received at Saturday's State funeral for Genoa bridge collapse victims, PD leader Maurizio Martina said Monday.
    "We must restart from those jeers in order to change," he said.
    While PD figures including Martina were subjected to whistles and catcalls, League-Five Star government figures were applauded at some of the funerals for the disaster's 43 victims.
    "The only thing not to do," Martina said, "is to treat with arrogance the climate that is crossing the country, because it concerns us.
    "The alternative to the League and the Five Stars is done by flanking these people again.
    "By putting our feet back on the streets.
    "Only in this way will we defeat the danger represented by those who rule us today".
    Meanwhile former PD leader and ex-premier Matteo Renzi told La Repubblica daily that the "Jacobin-like" treatment of the PD would turn into a boomerang for the "presumed revolutionaries" and that the PD would respond to it.