Expensive EU project: The football stadium in Florence, which is about to be renovated
Bild: Mauritius
The city of Florence wants to renovate its football stadium with EU grants. But why should European taxpayers finance a professional club owned by an Italian-American billionaire?
Rocco Commisso is an Italian-American who has become a multi-billionaire in the United States. The owner of Mediacom Communications, the fifth largest cable TV group in the United States, has assets of more than 6 billion euros, according to Bloomberg. The 73-year-old Commisso is also a big football fan, owning clubs New York Cosmos and ACF Fiorentina , Florence-based top division club. Since buying Italy’s first team for €170m in 2019, he’s been flying to the Medici city a few times a year to check on things.
The city administration does a lot for his football club. Mayor Dario Nardella wants to start the complete renovation of the city’s own stadium this year – but not with the city’s money, but with 130 million euros from an Italian state fund, which supplements the funds from the European Reconstruction Fund. Another 64 million euros come from the European Recovery Fund itself, i.e. from funds from the EU Commission, guaranteed by European taxpayers, reports the city administration.