Airport, here is the secret Italian & American climb

The break-in

The raid of the investigation by our newspaper in the proscenium of Cagliari airport with the publication of company documents blew up the silence that reigned over the operation. The rumors have become notarial deeds and the secluded meetings in the Cagliari airport have given way to official positions. The request was varied, from Confcommercio to the unions: the future of the airport cannot be decided in the secret rooms. It is for this reason that Thursday morning the Cagliari airport gave way to pavilion G of the Cagliari Trade Fair, that of May 1st. No sausage and onion on the agenda. The appointment is armored. Nobody has to know, nobody has to talk. However, delivery takes less than 24 hours. The secret rivulets of that meeting between "brothers-knives" are a river in flood. No more than 20 protagonists of the employers' association life of southern Sardinia participate, from the representatives of Confindustria to those of the mighty Coldiretti, from Confesercenti to the powerful Confcommercio. All summoned with a personal phone call from the president of the Cagliari-Oristano Chamber of Commerce, Maurizio de Pascale.

Office & armored

Unofficial and secret meeting, but there are many present. The service cameras record the landlord Gianluigi Molinari, representative of Confesercenti and president of the service center of the fair, there are Fabio Murru and Pierpaolo Spada, president and director of Confartigianato, Giorgio Del Piano and Massimo Balia, regional and provincial presidents of Confapi, there is also Francesco Porcu, director of Cna, with Patrizia Pinna, director of Cna and above all a member of the board of the Chamber of Commerce. The list of those present indicates Alberto Bertolotti, leader of Confcommercio and staunch opponent of the airport transfer, Ignazio Schirru, president of Casartigiani, Roberto Bolognese, regional president of Confesercenti, Luca Saba and Giorgio Demurtas, regional director and provincial president Coldiretti, Antonello Argiolas and Marco Santoru, president and director of Confindustria Southern Sardinia, Gaetano Nastasi, member of the chamber council representing the professional orders, Luigi Biggio of Confcommercio, and, finally, Daniela Schirru, member of the council of the Chamber of Commerce, representing the cooperatives.

Platoon & audience

Platoon and audience, listeners and supporters. Everyone knows about the top, but everyone denies it. The topic is one of those that burn: the future of Cagliari airport and the entry into the corporate and management structure of a giant like F2i. The number one of the De Pascale Chamber of Commerce is a seasoned man enough to understand that in that room the privatization of the airport hovers like a heavy shadow. It is he himself who asks himself that rhetorical question that all present, or some of them, would like to ask him: "if you ask me if I want to sell the shares of the airport, I answer no". The question, however, is only the starting point, because the arrival point is quite another. The ground has to be prepared for the great financial takeover at the airport but it must not be said, indeed, at this stage, it must be absolutely denied. In reality, however, the plan emerges in small steps with the effect of the checkmate of the airport system of Sardinia, to be consumed between Christmas and New Year.

Stars and Stripes

The words of the top chamber are weighed, but they can be summarized: we must set up a company to which the Cagliari Chamber of Commerce, Ligantia F2i and none other than the American fund “Blackrock” belong. In practice, a sort of management holding that aims to put all three Sardinian airports under the umbrella of Italian and American financial power. A move by hands on the entrance doors of the Nuraghi Island, complete with the "tricolor" and "stars and stripes". The details of the operation and the legal procedures for implementation are for the moment taboo.

The funds

Of course there are these two names on the Chamber of Commerce table: Ligantia F2i & Blackrock. The first is the company founded by F2i, the lead fund, which with 79% controls the airports of Alghero and Olbia, the second is one of the most powerful American funds engaged in scaling up infrastructure of all kinds. The two parties, F2i and Blackrock, go hand in hand since in the company that holds the absolute majority of the two airports in the north of the island, and 0.209% of the airport of Cagliari, F2i Ligantia, two funds appear, the Global infrastructure Solutions 3 and 4, all attributable to the Americans of Blackrock. At the summit that was to remain secret, it was clearly stated that the Sardinia Foundation must also be part of the operation, in turn a partner with 5% of Ligantia and of the F2i fund itself.

The Christmas package

The formula adopted for the communication of the operation is a Christmas “package”: we do not sell the Cagliari airport but we entrust it to the management of this nascent holding where the Chamber of Commerce will be the protagonist. In reality, control over Sardinia's most important airport would quickly change hands, with no ifs and buts, to foreigners and financial funds light years away from the island. To manage it will be purely financial interests, Italian and American, and certainly not the economic and social ones of the island. In the meeting between "brothers-knives" someone tries to invoke the Region, until now totally absent in this decisive game for the "sovereignty" over the air gates in the land of Sardinia. The more delicate chapters remain open: the assignment of the airport to an external management to Sogaer, the concessionaire of the airport, and, above all, the methods for identifying private partners. It is unlikely that the operation can be done without a public tender. And above all without taking into account that that airport was built with as much as 200 million euros of public funds.

The moves

From tomorrow, at any hour, an official convocation could arrive at the Chamber of Commerce, certainly for the Chamber Council, but given the importance of the topic, it is difficult to exclude the General Council. The leaders will ask for a mandate to negotiate with the two funds, Italian and American. It is a question of understanding whether they will receive a full or conditional mandate and whether this will in fact involve the loss of control of Cagliari airport.

Workers at risk

The union representative at the meeting at the Fair would have given his assent, but airport workers with substantial privatization are those most at risk. The chessboard announced by our investigation in the next few hours could drop the mask. The risk is that from next year the American flag will fly at the Santa Gilla airport together with that of high finance. A climb of other times, in an island that continues to be a land of conquest, where even the entrance doors would be denied to Sardinians.

(6.continue)