Conte gives ASPI ultimatum

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 9 - Premier Giuseppe Conte on Thursday gave motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI) an ultimatum saying it must offer the state an "advantageous" proposal or see its operating license stripped amid a row after it was granted the temporary management of a new Genoa bridge replacing one that collapsed in 108 killing 43 people.
    Conte said the revocation of ASPI's motorway concession may come despite the government knowing the legal pitfalls posed by possible appeals.
    On Wednesday evening the Constitutional Court said revoking the concession would be legal.
    Conte said "the decision comforts us".
    In Conte's view "there are all the prerequisites to do so".
    He said a decision would be made by the weekend.
    "The situation is of sufficient importance that all the government should share in the decision," he said.
    The senior government partner, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), has been particularly vocal in calling for ASPI to be stripped of the concession after the August 15, 2018 disaster.
    Transport Minister Paolo De Micheli summoned ASPI to the ministry Thursday afternoon.
    De Micheli said Wednesday that ASPI is to run the new Genoa bridge for the time being, but added that the issue of revoking its concessions was still on the table.
    "Management goes to the concessionary, which is today ASPI, but there is still the hypothesis of revocation over the affair".
    Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti was among those slamming the decision.
    "Two years of baying for blood, roaring, gritting teeth, rattling handcuffs and threats have produced what you might have imagined from the start," he said.
    "That is, the fact that the motorway concession is still there, the investments have not been made, the controls started late and the bridge is being returned to those who still have the concession despite the government's hot air".
    ASPI is controlled by the Benetton-led Atlantia group, which slipped a further 9% on the Milan bourse following Conte's ultimatum Thursday.
    Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede, an M5S heavyweight, said a decision on the motorway license "must absolutely be taken by the end of this week".
    He said "the government has worked ceaselessly on the motorway concessions. After reaching a very important result, with the new Morandi Bridge built in less than two years, now the time has come to decide, if possible by the end of this week".
    Other top members of the M5S said "we will not permit" ASPI's management of the bridge and would push for its license to be revoked.
    The group representing the families evacuated after the bridge collapse said they were "stunned" and spoke of a "political defeat".
    Victims' relatives urged the government to "give us news on the revocation of the concessions".
    The Democratic Party, the M5S's main partner in government, said the government should decide on the revocation "in a short time span".
    Premier Conte said "it is a paradoxical situation and the case must be closed".
    Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, a former M5S leader, said "we must keep our promise" that Benetton will be "ejected" from the motorway maintenance business.
    The new bridge, built in record time for Italy, was designed by Genoa native and starchitect Renzo Piano.
    It features 'sails', reflecting the northwestern port city's maritime heritage. (ANSA).