Overview
- The Corte dei Conti denied the legality clearance and registration for the August CIPESS decision that approved the bridge’s definitive project and funding worth roughly €13–13.5 billion.
- The court stressed it ruled on strictly legal profiles and flagged issues including multi‑year financing coverage, traffic forecasts, environmental and seismic compliance, and EU rules on cost increases above 50%.
- An urgent meeting at Palazzo Chigi brought together Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, with the government vowing to answer the objections point by point and to pursue all available procedural tools.
- Under Italian law the executive can seek a Council of Ministers deliberation declaring a superior public interest, which could force registration with reservation and trigger parliamentary reporting, leaving the project paused pending these steps.
- Economic stakes remain high as contractors had begun recruitment drives, and Salvini said he now expects a short delay with a target to start works in February, subject to resolving the court’s findings.