2023-04-23 18:11:34
Dhe European Union is not funding the stadiums in Florence and Venice after all. As the Italian government has announced, the two controversial projects are no longer part of the plan within the European Corona recovery fund, which provided for co-financing the renovation of the city football stadium in Florence and the construction of a new sports complex with two stadiums in Venice.
The project in Florence consists of the complete modernization of the “Artemio Franchi” stadium, built in the 1930s, for the use of the first division professional club AC Fiorentina. The club is owned by an American-Italian billionaire. 55 million euros were earmarked for this in European funds. In Venice, the basketball club owned by Mayor Luigi Brugnaro will also play in the new sports center “Bosco dello Sport”. This project would have received 93 million euros from the European recovery fund.
The Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, spoke of “severe, unjust and unjustified damage to the city”. All the conditions for eligibility would have been met EU funding has already been approved.
A total of 40 permits were granted for the project. The culturally and historically important stadium in Florence should not suffer the same fate as the Flaminio stadium in Rome, which is falling into disrepair. It was built by the same architect, Pier Luigi Nervi. The former mayor of Florence and former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, on the other hand, said that such stadium investments should be privately invested.
The application for EU funding was “a gift to the Eurosceptics”. In the Netherlands and Germany, taxpayers could have asked: “Why do we have to pay for the Fiorentina stadium with our taxes?” Renzi said.
Venice criticizes “political decision”
The city administration of Venice also spoke of “surprise and disappointment” in a statement and criticized a “political” decision against the sports stadiums. Here, too, the Italian government approved the project, as a decree of April 22, 2022 shows.
A total of 13 authorities had spoken out in favor of it. The Italian government of Draghi’s successor Giorgia Meloni had only half-heartedly defended the projects in Brussels and referred to Draghi’s responsibility. Rome is now examining whether the wishes of Florence and Venice can be met to replace the missing EU funds with Italian taxpayers’ money.
The Ministry of Culture in Rome had previously pledged 140 million euros for the renovation of the stadium in Florence. According to the mayor, the city has already spent 8.5 million euros on the planning to date. The new stadium in Venice should cost a good 300 million euros. In addition to European funds, municipal funds have so far been earmarked for this.
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