The cost of flights and the (dis-) territorial continuity, as well as the need to guarantee discounted fares, continue to be hot topics of this long summer, and have not failed to arouse interest of various kinds regarding the possible viable solutions.
Despite the alternation of various regional legislatures, more or less, the problem seems to continue to persist, creating considerable inconvenience not only for the residents, but also for those wishing to spend a holiday on the island. The questions would seem many, but the answers do not appear equally and directly consequential if only one considers the different intervention plans that it would in fact be necessary to trigger.
Why would it seem that a coherent and advantageous formula could not be found for Sardinia to guarantee the much desired territorial continuity in and out? Wouldn't the path of financial compensation really be viable with a regime, so to speak, at no cost to the Sardinia region?
Let's be clear: we do not want to seek preferential treatment, but we would only like to be able to have a "specific" regulation capable of positively reflecting on the composition of a discomfort of geographical origin which could not otherwise be resolved in the absence of targeted interventions "ad regionm ” discussed and concerted, first of all, and probably, with the Central Government. Moreover, one cannot fail to consider that with the distinct ruling in number 6 of the year 2019, having been specifically requested in the context of a decision concerning the topic under discussion on the legitimacy or otherwise of a certain article of law (article 1, paragraph 851, of Law No. 205 of 2017), the Constitutional Court clarified that "adequate resources" must be ensured in order to allow the Autonomous Region of Sardinia a serene planning "also on the specific point.
Saying it otherwise, if it is true, as it would seem to be true, that territorial continuity should be understood as the ability to guarantee a transport service (air or sea) that does not harm citizens residing in less "fortunate" territories, likewise, it would seem to be equally true , that such a provision must necessarily and dutifully be inserted within a context of a general nature suitable for guaranteeing, by ensuring it, substantial equality between citizens, both national and European, as well as that unavoidable expectation (and not only expectation) of “cohesion” on both an economic and a social level. And the Central Government should be prompt, as far as it can reasonably and competently, even taking into account the role of the European Union, in guaranteeing an effective service at reasonable costs, especially in the period of economic difficulty that it is currently facing. All the more so when, technically understood, and to be precise, transport can and must be configured, in its triple value, both as an economic activity "strictu sensu", and as a mechanism and tool purposively oriented towards founding the so-called "right to mobility" provided for by article 16 of our Constitution, both as a service of general economic interest and, therefore and for this very reason, such as to be guaranteed to all citizens, regardless of their geographical location. Meaning that in assessing the various circumstances, the economic question, far from prevailing over the remaining two, must instead follow them in its sole function as an efficient means to ensure and guarantee the primary and indispensable needs of "mobility" and "service" for general use. And then: couldn't we have full recourse to the financial mechanism of "compensation" for the so-called economic deficit that a certain transport company, on equal terms with the other interested parties, is called upon to support in ensuring the service?
The prejudicial effects deriving from the geographical disadvantage should primarily and unquestionably be greatly reduced, up to their complete annulment, first of all, and probably by the Government of Rome, since territorial cohesion represents the first and undeniable objective of an administration that wants to qualify in terms of efficiency. Otherwise, what could be the solution formula for a region, such as the Sardinian one, which with respect to the Peninsula, and therefore to the continental complex as a whole, is territorially otherwise dislocated? If it is true, as it appears to be true, that the condition of insularity is once again recognized on a constitutional level, then that specific "quality" should have immediately achieved a remodulation on an economic level of the minimum useful resources to be allocated to territorial continuity without incurring the prohibition of so-called state aid (in short and to put it simply: the compensation offered to transport companies cannot in any way exceed the deficit attributable to the service provided and must not be configured as a non-better specified subsidy to the reference company).
On the other hand, article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as constantly reminded by many, still today represents the inescapable beacon of the European policies of so-called cohesion, whereby if the European Union intends to pursue the objective of reducing the gap between the multiple differential margins of the regions through the strengthening of cohesion policies, then, and consequently, the European Union itself cannot in any way escape the burden, incumbent upon it, of offering the utmost consideration to those regional realities that are characterized by their permanent natural geographical disadvantages, i.e. to the Islands, among which, Sardinia, undoubtedly appears to be the one most in need of intervention.
The same EEC regulation n. 2408/1992, expressed in the matter of liberalization of air transport services, allows Member States the possibility of adopting public service obligations in the presence of certain conditions, such as those which appear to characterize the Sardinian island. It is necessary to take action on the regional, state and community level to obtain a definitive regulation.
Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro
