10 August 2006

Letter to the Wall Street Journal

"Dear Wall Street Journal,
I am writing in response to the article published in ‘Breaking news’ relating to the Autostrade-Abertis merger.
The article defines the motivation of the Italian Government that is preventing the transfer of the concession to Abertis as “rubbish excuses” I believe that the journalist of the WSJ has not been fully informed. It is not a question of excuse nor is it a question of rubbish.
For the Italian law, a motorway concession cannot be entrusted to a construction company.
It seems to me that the reason for this is obvious. It’s to avoid a conflict of interests. The law has already been applied in the past in similar situations with Italian construction companies.
There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be applied in relation to Spanish, German or Danish construction companies.
I want to emphasise that the Italian Government has not given an opinion about the merger of two companies but about the transfer of the concession. If it is written that the Italian Government does not want to sell to the Spanish that is inexact and malicious. The “rubbish excuse” is in fact an action of the Government in the application of the law. It is in no way connected to protectionism and whoever writes that is not saying the truth.”
Regards. Antonio Di Pietro.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Information