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Italy to make case for Tirrenia subsidy extension
John McLaughlin, Genoa - Wednesday 19 November 2008
ITALIAN government officials were in Brussels today to make their case for an extension of subsidies to state-owned ferry company Tirrenia, as opponents and proponents of further aid girded themselves for battle at home.
Among those committed to a continuation of subsidies are Tirrenia’s seafarers, who will go on a one-day strike tomorrow in protest against a government budget they claim includes insufficient funds to maintain all the company’s services.
In a statement confirming the strike, the three main maritime unions — Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti — called on the senate to restore funds absent from the budget bill approved by the lower chamber, “lest it result in lines being terminated, ships idled and workers laid off.”
They also urged the government to push through an extension of the existing subsidy regime “and not just for a single year, since selling Tirrenia without subsidies would be like giving it away”.
Infrastructure minister Altero Matteoli said earlier this month that the government would approach Brussels with a view to a one-year extension of subsidies to Tirrenia, arguing that it needed the extra time to organise an orderly privatisation.
Union representatives, who are pushing the government for €80m ($101.5m) in subsidies for this year and €108m for 2009, want the subsidy regime extended until at least 2012. They are due to meet with Mr Matteoli to discuss the issue next week.
The European Commission has given no indication as yet of being prepared to accept an extension, and Italy’s private shipowners will lobby hard both at home and in Brussels to get the privatisation process underway immediately.
Long-standing critics of Tirrenia’s subsidised status, shipowners are infuriated by the government’s stance, particularly after securing what they believed was a strong commitment to a swift privatisation from premiere Silvio Berlusconi several months ago.
Commenting recently on Mr Mattioli’s commitment to an extension of subsidies, shipowners’ leader Nicola Coccia said such a course would break European law. “We are the only country in Europe that for 20 years has been out of synch with the rules,” he said. “An extension of this regime would be absolutely illegitimate.”
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