Cagliari will not host the World Series and, therefore, Luna Rossa – the jewel of the Prada team – will not compete for qualification for the prestigious America's Cup sailing the Golfo degli Angeli. All this despite a regional funding of six million one hundred thousand euros, which cannot be used as the great sailing event will almost certainly land in Spain.
Behind it there is a controversy that has opened with the Region on the organization of the event, which was expected as the first European stage on the island. The version of the Councilor for Tourism Gianni Chessa, contacted by telephone a little while ago: «We had reached an agreement to bring the World Series to Cagliari from 12 to 15 October. The organizers came to the council and we reached an agreement on the word for the organization of the first date of the event in Europe against a loan of 6 million and one hundred thousand euros», explains Chessa. «They are not motes but I have undertaken to find them through the Omnibus, but the documentation required to allow the offices of the councilorship to set up a contract for the promotion of the Island in the world has not been presented. But, despite this, I have again brought the request to the Finance Law. In the meantime we intercepted some Spanish newspapers, which reported a story according to which the first stage in Europe had been awarded to Vilanova in Spain».
Clear conclusion: «As a matter of institutional correctness, I believe that no one can trample on our dignity. They had offered us, for 6.1 million, to ask for the first stage of the World Series in Europe. And in the interlocutions it had emerged clearly. And if it won't be the first stage in Europe, goodbye: we certainly won't be fooled. The door remains open, as long as the proposal for the first stage in Europe to be held in Cagliari remains standing».
The group of Progressives of the Regional Council announces that it will present in the next few days «a detailed request for access to the documents with respect to the management of the Cagliari stage of the America's Cup AC World Series. The story appears, at least since we learn from the first journalistic reconstructions, marked by an unacceptable carelessness. To which is added a lack, now chronic when it comes to the Tourism Department, of sharing and transparency. It is our intention to shed full light on the matter as we are helping to do on all the activities connected with regional tourism spending and planning".