The Italian bridge disaster
Italy declared a day of national mourning last week for the 43 people killed when a motorway viaduct collapsed in Genoa. Cars and trucks fell 45 metres onto the riverbed below when a 200-metre section of the Morandi Bridge, a key link on the A10 motorway along the Mediterranean, gave way during a violent storm. This week, the collapse led to recriminations: some families refused to attend the state funeral for victims, accusing the government of neglecting the bridge’s upkeep.
Leaders of Italy’s ruling populist coalition in turn accused Autostrade per l’italia, the private company that runs much of Italy’s motorway network, of skimping on maintenance. Ministers also claimed that EU funding constraints were partly to blame. It emerged that engineers had questioned the viaduct’s safety earlier this year, and major repair work had been sanctioned but never completed.
What the editorials said
“Shameless, even by its low standards”, Italy’s “gang of populists” is now trying to exploit the Genoa tragedy for its own ends, said The Independent. For the interior minister, Matteo Salvini of the rightwing League Party, to blame the “detested” EU for the collapse is simply wrong. Eurozone rules say nothing about particular projects: they merely require member states to keep budget deficits within “broad limits”. The attack on Autostrade is equally reprehensible, said La Repubblica (Rome). Without waiting for the results of an official inquiry, Salvini has begun moves to revoke the company’s concession. “Scapegoating” Autostrade is a cynical way of passing the buck and playing to the gallery.
The search for culprits might begin with the bridge’s architect, Riccardo Morandi, said The Times. His decision in the 1960s to wrap load-bearing steel cables in concrete seems to have allowed pollutants and salt to seep in, corroding the metal. Two Morandi bridges in Sicily have recently closed because of safety fears. The inspection of all bridges of similar design is now a matter of urgency.