Bridge across the Strait of Messina and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan

Subject: Bridge across the Strait of Messina and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan

For years now there has been talk in Italy of constructing a bridge or tunnel across the strait between Calabria and Sicily, with this being key to the development of southern Italy.

Such an infrastructure project is also becoming key to the completion of one of the strategic corridors (the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor) in the Trans-European TEN-T transport network, which the Commission wants to finalise by 2030.

Funding under the Next Generation EU (NGEU) plan could play a vital role in the implementation of that project, considering that in its answer to a previous question of mine, the Commission explained that completing the entire Italian section of the TEN-T network will require around EUR 150 billion and that under the NGEU plan Italy will be granted over EUR 200 billion.

However, the Italian Government has repeatedly stated that it does not view this project as a priority, to such an extent that it has not included it in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).

Can the Commission therefore state:

whether it views the construction of a bridge/tunnel across the Strait of Messina as a pre-requisite for completing one of the TEN‑T strategic corridors;

whether it will press the Italian Government to include the construction of such infrastructure in its NRRP?

Answer given by Ms Vălean on behalf of the European Commission

(22 June 2021)

The connection between Sicily and the Italian mainland belongs to the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). It is already part of the Scandinavian Mediterranean corridor and as such considered to be of EU importance. The link is not identified on the list of cross-border and missing links to be addressed for the completion of the TEN-T Network (1).

Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, national authorities have been responsible to design national recovery and resilience plans including mature measures towards more sustainable and smart mobility, linking with the European Semester cycle reports and recommendations.

The European Commission will ascertain the coherence of the investments, their maturity, their socioeconomic impact in terms of jobs creation, growth and the resilience of the economy, their contribution to the climate and digital transition, their consistency with the national climate and energy plans and with other EU funded programmes.

In particular, the EU Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (2) provides for an eligibility of projects between February 2020 and August 2026.

It is therefore essential for Member States to include in their national recovery and resilience plans investments and reforms that can be completed within this timeline.

⋅1∙ List of pre-identified projects on the Core Network in the Transport sector, Annex I Part 2 of the regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of

the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and part III of the annex to the 2021-2027 Connecting Europe Facility Regulation (provisional agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of 11 March 2021). ⋅2∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2021.057.01.0017.01.ENG&toc=OJ%3AL%3A2021%3A057%3ATOC