Italy's transport ministry said the planned railway link between Italy and France is a waste of public money in a report released on Tuesday, a move that will likely exacerbate the tensions between Rome and Paris, according to Reuters.
The Alpine rail line called Treno Alta Velocita (TAV) has been supported by the ruling League Party but has been opposed by its coalition partner the 5-Star Movement.
Italy's transport ministry said the project would cost more than 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion), but the 5-Star politician who is now Transport Minister, Danilo Toninelli, argued against the plan.
Work has already begun on one of the most important parts of the project a 58-km (36-mile) tunnel burrowed through the Alps.
Toninelli commissioned a panel of experts to create a cost-benefit analysis of the link and published the 79-page report on Tuesday which estimated the economic return would leave a negative balance between 7-7.8 billion euros ($7.9-8.8 billion).
The Transport Minister said there was also a drop in excise duty on petrol as freight is moved onto trains: “As everyone can now see for themselves, the numbers of this economic and transport analysis are extremely negative. It is now up to the government to make a decision.”
But the far-right League party argues the train linking the French city of Lyon with Turin is important to help build Italy's export-driven economy and said it would continue to push for the project.
“The cost-benefit analysis is not the bible,” Riccardo Molinari, the League leader in the lower house of parliament, said to Sky Italia television. “If we cannot find an accord, the final word should rest with the citizens (in a referendum)."
But the 5-Star Movement remained firm, claiming it would never sanction the project while in power, even though the party has been struggling amid a diplomatic feud with France in recent weeks.
Opposition parties also dismissed the report on the grounds of bias.
“It is like asking Dracula to guard over a bloodbank,” said Sergio Chiamparino, the center-left head of the northern Piedmont region, which would have a lot to gain from the railway project.
Paris agreed to freeze new contracts on the tunnel boring operation until the Italian government finalized the cost-benefit analysis, but tensions have escalated this year after French President Emmanuel Macron recalled France's ambassador to Rome after meeting with and praising leaders of the 'yellow vest' protest movement.
French Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne issued a brief statement on Tuesday which said she was reviewing the analysis but stated France had a "constant position" on the project.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody