Rome, 10 July 2025
“Contrary to Mr Bonelli’s claims, the Environmental Impact Assessment and the Assessment of the Implications for the Site for the Strait of Messina Bridge have been successfully completed, following a complex approval process carried out by the Environmental Impact Assessment Technical Committee set up by the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security (MASE),” said Stretto di Messina CEO, Pietro Ciucci, with regard to the claims made by Mr Bonelli. “In particular, on 13 November 2024 the latter expressed a favourable opinion on the Environmental Impact Study and on 21 May 2025 gave a green light to the Environmental Impact Assessment, considering that ‘all the documentation submitted shows that the Compensatory Measures are consistent with the need to guarantee that the site conservation goals can be met and are overall in line with the aims of the Natura 2000 network’. The Committee also expressed a favourable opinion on the final version of the information package to be submitted to the European Commission. After the Cabinet’s approval of the IROPI Statement – Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest on 9 April, the Government forwarded all the documentation required by the Habitats Directive to the European Commission. The Bridge project has, therefore, complied with all the regulations, and has never shirked its environmental responsibilities”.

“Equally unfounded is the idea put forward by Mr Bonelli that there is a need ‘to revise the design by applying NATO standards’. The Strait of Messina Bridge has been designed as dual-use infrastructure – which may be used for civil and military purposes – as envisaged by the European Union in the Military Mobility Action Plan, aimed at strengthening the capacity for rapid movement of vehicles and military personnel across the European continent within the TEN-T network, of which the Bridge forms a part”.