There is a deep crater in the skies of Sardinia. An endless chasm of money, interests and mysteries. For many an infinite business, for Sardinia and the Sardinians an essential service. Territorial air continuity, being able to move on a par with what happens in any other Italian and European territory, is a universal right to mobility. Excluding the island from this principle means interrupting and denying oxygen to the economy, tourism, development, the right to health and education. In other words, it means denying citizenship, a discrimination that smacks of "apartheid". For this reason, the new tender on territorial continuity is much more than a normal tender. At stake are millionaire interests and above all a denied service, which risks conditioning the rights of Sardinia and the Sardinians until October 2024.
Black hole
The chapters of this story are many, one above all, however, weighs like a boulder on this story. In the administrative acts, those of the most important department, that of Transport, the silence is profound. A real black hole in the procedures for the award of the air continuity service. In the managerial determination of last October 25, that of the Transport Department that announces the new tender to connect Sardinia to Milan and Rome by air, there is not a slight hint. The new procedure comes out of nothing, or rather, everyone knows it, but no one writes it. The heart of the crime is all here, in that black hole, which has remained a mystery in the papers of the Region.
Who is dictating the times?
The question is without rhetoric: why did the Region have to anticipate the tender for territorial continuity, effectively preventing the negotiation with the new Italian government of the restoration of the single tariff, the true application of territorial continuity for an island region? Who dictated the times? Why is this key passage omitted in the acts of the transport department, the public ones? One thing is certain, the administrative acts carried out up to that moment marked a clear and unequivocal obligation, without appeal: "Accept the declaration of the company Italia Trasporti Aereo SpA (Ita) and Volotea of acceptance for 12 months starting from May 15, 2022 of the public service obligations on the Alghero - Rome Fiumicino route and vice versa, without taking advantage of exclusive rights and without receiving financial compensation ». The deadline, therefore, was set for May 2023. The Region, therefore, would have had plenty of time to renegotiate, if it wanted, both with the Government and with Europe that fundamental step on the single tariff, application without subterfuge of the island principle. constitutional. Instead, no. The companies, both of them, would have communicated simultaneously, but the exact contents and dates are not known, the "termination" of the contract with the Region, interrupting a public service three months in advance.
Simultaneous and unilateral
With this unilateral decision, without any legal rigor, Volotea and Ita have not only caused very serious damage to Sardinia, making the service increasingly uncertain, but have pre-established the conditions to "catch up" as soon as possible those compensations for which they had gave up during the summer, knowing full well that they would have made plenty of cash on the exorbitant rates applied to Sardinian emigrants, tourists and non-residents, making the island an impracticable destination. The premature "termination" of the agreement did not take second place, on the contrary. First of all on the legal level: who has foreseen or allowed that two airlines, first competitors and then in fact allies, could put the Region against the wall with a revocation of service without a plausible legal reason? In all the acts adopted by the Region regarding territorial continuity, therefore binding acts also in any implementation procedures, it is clearly stated: "in the event of non-fulfillment by the carrier with respect to the provisions of the tax decree, ... the Region has right to terminate the agreement, upon written notice to the carrier '. Therefore, only the Region, for just cause, could terminate the agreement, certainly not the two carriers who were obliged, if anything, to carry out the service without charges and compensation until May 2023. This is a key step.
Escape without pledge
It is difficult to hypothesize that a public official, in this case of the Regional Transport Department, could have foreseen on his own initiative the "rule" with which to allow the companies to "leave" at any time at their discretion. If this had happened there could have been not only an administrative negligence in not giving public information with a deliberative act or determination, but also a very serious damage to the interests of the Region. The unilateral "termination" by the companies has first of all caused extremely significant economic damage to the economic system of Sardinia. It would be enough to think of the fact that until February, if it goes well, there will be no possibility to book for the next summer season, with an obvious result: all the world tourist resorts will be on the market, Sardinia will not. Very serious consequences for which any public administration, serious and loyal to duty, would ask for lavish and copious relief, both directly and in court. Moreover, a termination linked to the increase in fuel cannot be taken as a motivation, nor foreseen and contemplated by the announcement. It would have been enough to re-read the defensive notes of Volotea which, on the occasion of the clash at the TAR with Ita, on the first award, had blatantly claimed that it could easily give up almost 50% of the compensation because, like any good low cost, it had multi-year fuel purchase contracts. such as not to undergo fluctuations linked to the increase in the cost of jet fuel. To the economic damage is added a consequence on which the Region will not be able to ignore it: the unilateral premature interruption of a public service. A fact that in the procurement code provides for the exclusion from any other tender of the same body and of the same subject.
Not friends at the bar
If the Department of Transport does not clarify its position, it will end up endorsing the behavior of the companies, "justifying" and "forgiving them" as if it were a relationship between friends at the bar. The "induced", "casual" or "unfortunate" consequences will certainly lead to copious benefits, millionaires for the airlines, which will not only be able to continue doing what they want with Sardinian emigrants, non-residents and tourists, but will also in the pocket the beauty of 52 million euros totally unjustified given that the Region has no knowledge of how much the territorial continuity service costs.
Those accounts to be done
Suffice only a fact that has escaped the chronology of the facts of the Department of Transport. On May 4, 2022, Dr. Delfina Spiga, director of the service, who later became director general of the Department of the Environment, had launched a tender with an eloquent object: "Market survey aimed at identifying an economic operator to invite to the procedure for the direct assignment of a service for the analysis of operating activities and for the verification of costs and revenues recorded by air carriers operating on routes subject to public service obligations ". In practice, an assignment to an external company to evaluate the real costs of the territorial continuity service. They forgot to publish the outcome and the assignment if it ever happened.
The mystery of the calculations
Admission, however, is very relevant: the transport department is unable to verify the costs of the service and must be entrusted to an external company. Too bad, however, that the Region, on 25 October last launched the new tender, with the forecast of a gift of 52 million euros to the airlines. On the basis of what calculations were those compensations foreseen? Who did those accounting analyzes? Among the intricacies of the department the acts "sing": for that service a cost of 50 thousand euros is expected. In the provision, however, it is also written: «The duration of the service is approximately 6 months and will start from the date of stipulation of the contract, until the approval of the last“ Final Report ”».
The forgotten urgency
There is a detail: the announcement was published on May 4 and the response had to arrive within the eleventh of the same month. Lightning-fast urgency: just 6 days. Of the final report, however, there is no trace, given that, if they had respected the terms of a never declared assignment of the service, it would have had to be delivered by October. Always too late, given that those 52 million based on the auction of the new tender are the same as last year, despite a company, Volotea, had proposed reductions of over 40% just a year ago. And, in fact, after the unilateral "termination", the mystery of that money "given" to the airlines appears in the skies of Sardinia, heavy as a boulder. A new chapter to reveal.
(2.continue)
