The fingerprints are imprinted with the internal protocol of the cabinet office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility. The state symbol on the title page of the decree reads: Italian Republic. You leaf through it and you realize that the "secession" on the contrary is complete: traveling to and from Sardinia means going beyond the borders, in a no man's land, where citizens residing in other Italian regions and Sardinian emigrants are considered unwanted foreigners. To come to the Island of their fathers or children, Sardinian emigrants will have to pay the "tax for Sardinia", that is an air ticket that will be free will, with occasional rates and which could result in a cost that is triple or quadruple compared to what a citizen residing in Sardinia will pay. One shot to the heart and one to the wallet. Prohibitory figures that will make the island an impossible destination 365 days a year.
Reverse Secession
From today, according to the decree signed by Enrico Giovannini, Minister of Sardinian “secession”, all citizens not resident in Sardinia should pay an unlimited plane ticket, not even a ceiling. As if to say, green light for insular speculation. Those who want to take advantage of the resident rates, excluding the summer, must declare that they come to the island for strictly work reasons. Any misrepresentation will be prosecuted. Madness, given that many children of Sardinia, perhaps emigrated for work, will never be able to declare falsehood. To return to their families they will have to bleed themselves out or give up their loved ones. It will be no different for those who choose to come to Sardinia for a so-called shoulder tourism, food and wine or cultural, naturalistic or sporting, archaeological or scientific. Tourists, not enemies of Sardinia. Italian or European citizens who, coming to Sardinia at "fair" rates, not triple or quadruple, would certainly have contributed to creating development and employment.
Suicidal choice
A suicidal choice for the economy, incalculable damage for strategic sectors of the island that will have to deal with prohibitive tariffs that will not only aggravate the already heavy island condition, but will create unprecedented "territorial" discrimination. There is nowhere in Italy, and in Europe, a tariff wall such as to make one territory inaccessible compared to another. A citizen of Milan who goes to Rome by car will pay the same "motorway toll" as a citizen of Rome who goes to Milan. There will be no differences and no discrimination. The air toll to come to Sardinia, on the other hand, for non-residents will be triple or quadruple. A real "tax for Sardinia". Instead of favoring the elimination of limits, considering the insular gap, the State, in order to listen to the claims of the “former” Alitalia and the newborn Ita, has decided to put pen to paper the most illegal of discrimination.
True discrimination
A term, that of "discrimination", which we do not use improperly, but which can be seen plastically from the ministerial decree issued on 14 September last. We reproduce it photographically for the incredulous. It is the infrastructure minister who "confesses" the spirit with which he punishes Sardinia, making it inaccessible. The paragraph of the "confession" is 3.3, that of the tariffs for paid connections. After having listed the routes and having attributed the maximum subsidized fares per leg, reserved for residents, from Milan to the Sardinian airports 47 euros and 39 from Rome, the minister proposes the chapter on equalizations. 80% of disabled people are treated as residents, young people aged 2 to 21, seniors over 70, university students up to the age of 27.
The asterisk
It is in the next asterisk that the ministry carries out the crime. To the residents tariff, applied to the various categories, it adds a scandal admission: the residents tariff is extended "without any discrimination linked to nationality and / or residence". The meaning is clear, explicit: the ministry with this footnote is affirming that all the others, Italian and European citizens not residing in Sardinia, in transit from Italian airports to the island, are discriminated against. An unprecedented statement that some diligent official, stirred up by some flying hand, put pen to paper and had the Minister sign it. A state act that bluntly violates one of the founding principles of the Constitution: national cohesion. Other than the unity of Italy, those who want to come to Sardinia, according to the Minister's decree, must be "discriminated" by paying triple or quadruple the plane ticket compared to a resident.
Violated clause
A provision in total contrast with the "non-discrimination" clause, recalled by a unanimous vote of the parliament when, with the Transport Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, on 21 April 2010, it unanimously approved the final resolution on aerial territorial continuity to be and for Sardinia. On that occasion, the decision of the European Commission was recalled, no. 2007/332 / EC, of 23 April 2007, against discrimination in mobility, providing that "all citizens residing in the national and European territory who intend to fly to and from Sardinia are subject to the tariff subject to public service obligations, in order to ensure compliance with the principle of island rebalancing of the Region ". Now, Giovannini, the Minister, for seven months, barring further extensions, has decided to introduce discrimination: those who are not resident in Sardinia will have to pay a lot of money for the plane ticket.
Rights, not gifts
The diligent official, editor of the ministerial decree, signed by a Minister obviously not very attentive to the requests of Sardinia, has repeatedly defined the rates as "subsidized". As if it were a gift or a kind concession. In reality, the imposition of public service obligations is anything but a facilitation. The objective of the European Union was and is very clear: to connect an island with the rest of the continent it is forbidden to speculate. In practice, says Europe, the rates are established with an elementary method: the actual cost of an hour of flight is calculated precisely, without tricks, and then a business profit of between 4 and 6% is added. Those of the airlines who choose to accept the burden of public service cannot do what they want, they must "settle" for a 4/6% gain on the actual cost of the flight. Therefore, no concessions, no discounted rates, simply a non-speculative rate, a correct ticket price.
Money given away
And Volotea's offer, with over 40% discount, confirms, if there was still a need, that the State and the Region have foreseen a groundless cost per hour flown. If that forecast, put in black and white in the tender documents, had been realistic, the Department of Transport would have had to subject the Volotea "discount" to an evaluation of the anomalous offer. He did not do it because everyone knows that those contributions foreseen in this emergency race were completely unjustified. Money that Alitalia first, and Ita later, would have wanted to increase the Sardinian sack. The games went differently, blown up by Volotea's participation. Finally, the reservations that, according to some, Europe would have raised about the single tariff. This is an excuse that has now come to light. In reality, much more has been proposed to Europe, with a waste of money, totally undue, functional only to further earnings for state airlines. And never, Region or State, have they established a real negotiation with Europe. To implement the single tariff, in fact, it would be enough to give airlines what the European standard provides: a business profit of 4/6% and nothing more. All the rest is a gift from the State, or from the Region, to the companies.
Court of Auditors stuff
And, then, the chapter of the Court of Auditors: with the announcement of the Region for seven months, an expenditure of 36 million euros was foreseen, without the single tariff. In practice, an expenditure forecast of 62 million euros per year. This is a similar amount to the one that was spent up to last year, considering, however, the single rate for nine months of the year for residents and non-residents. Something does not add up in the accounts. Final detail: between 1958 and 2014, the last realistic census, 600,000 Sardinians emigrated to the Continent. Over 300 thousand are distributed between Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria, another 200 thousand between Lazio, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. For territorial continuity they are no longer "children of Sardinia", for the Region and the State they have become "non-residents". To return to their families in Sardinia, if they want, they will have to pay triple or quadruple the ticket. Blissful ingratitude.
Volotea & single rate
Meanwhile, from today, Volotea begins the "new" territorial continuity, applying the single tariff. Yet another slap in the face to Alitalia and beyond. Without anyone asking him. Will it be a clever publicity stunt? We'll see. One thing is certain: Sardinia and the Sardinians need rights recognized and sanctioned by the State and the Region. Territorial continuity is a right, not a favor.
