In the House

Yes to confidence on the Commissioners' decree: new features from the Strait Bridge to Rfi

New procedure for the bridge and commissioners for Anas and Rfi roads

by Rome Editorial Staff

6 May 2026

Rendering del Ponte sullo Stretto di Messina (Imagoeconomica)

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In the Chamber of Deputies, the government has placed confidence in the commissioners' decree, already approved in the Senate on 29 April. The text (11 articles increased to 15 after passing through Montecitorio) must be converted by 11 May. Ponte sullo Stretto, Mose di Venezia and Rfi: there are many novelties.

The failed blitz on bathers

What the decree does not contain, however, is an intervention on beach concessions. In the Senate, the League had attempted a blitz to extend them, at least in the areas hit by emergency waves of bad weather (such as Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria) and in those - unspecified - damaged by coastal erosion. The amendment to the decree that bore the signatures of a group of senators of the League had been approved in the Environment Commission but did not pass the scrutiny of the Budget Commission, which assesses the financial compatibility of the proposed changes on the basis of the opinions of the MEF. The regulation did not convince the Economy technicians, who, in light of the onerousness, expressed a contrary opinion.

The Strait Bridge process

The heart of the measure remains the continuation of the procedure to build the Ponte sullo Stretto bridge (whose updated total cost is €13.5 billion), after the serious findings arrived from the Court of Auditors. This regulates the procedure that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport must follow to approve the acts and to give them effect (programme agreement, economic-financial plan, final project approval resolution). The aim is to comply with the deliberations of the Court of Auditors, which rejected the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development's (CIPESS) resolution approving the final project and the ministerial decree approving additional acts to the concession agreement.

Once the preliminary formalities have been completed and the new CIPESS resolution has been adopted, the MIT will be able to proceed with the signing of the additional deed to the agreement with the concessionaire company, including the updated Economic and Financial Plan, and the subsequent transmission of the deeds to the Court of Auditors for the legitimacy audit.

The appointment of the CEO of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Rfi) as extraordinary commissioner for the realisation of the railway infrastructure works complementary to the bridge is also planned.

Commissioners

The decree intervenes on the galaxy of existing commissioners. The decree provides for the extension of the term of office of the extraordinary commissioner for the safety of the Gran Sasso water system, the regulation of his regime of prorogatio, and his taking over for certain tasks from the extraordinary commissioner for urgent interventions for the restoration, safety and modernisation of the A24 and A25 motorway sections.

Strengthened role for Anas CEO

An amendment to spin off Anas from the FS failed to pass the Senate test. However, the decree provides for the takeover of CEO Claudio Andrea Gemme with the same tasks, functions and powers as the extraordinary commissioners 'sblocca cantieri', the ad acta commissioners appointed in the event of persistent inertia on the part of the competent bodies in the implementation of measures under the National Road Network Programme, and the commissioner for the construction of the Tirano Bypass (a 6.6 km strategic work in Valtellina). The takeover concerns the carrying out of design, assignment, coordination and execution of works on the road network of national interest managed by ANAS.

Centralisation for railway works

The decree also redesigns the governance of railway works, with a clear centralisation under Rfi. In order to speed up the construction and completion of projects such as Brescia-Verona, Rome-Pescara, and Salerno-Reggio Calabria, CEO Aldo Isi will take over from the extraordinary commissioners already appointed, with the same tasks, functions, and powers.

Metro C

In the decree there is an authentic interpretation provision aimed at clarifying that the extraordinary commissioner for the construction of Line C of the Rome Underground is authorised to enter into settlement agreements exclusively against the definitive and all-inclusive waiver by the contracting parties of all present or future actions and claims relating to relations that arose prior to the settlement itself.