Today the Italian Chamber has ratified the agreements made in 2015 and 2016 between the Italian and French governments to start the work on the cross-border section of a new rail line between Turin and Lyon. This decision was taken despite the problems that exist in relation to the plan. First of all, the agreement between France and Italy from 2001 requires the capacity of the existing rail line to be fully exhausted before a new one can be build. This condition is yet unfulfilled as only 16% of the existing line’s full capacity is currently used and the amount of transported goods has been declining steadily. Second, the process violates article 6 of the Aarhus Convention, which obliges the contracting states to ensure reasonable timeframes in order to allow for the public to be informed and to participate effectively in the decision-making process. Furthermore, public participation has to take place at an early stage when all options are open and effective public participation can have real influence. Unfortunately, nothing of this has happened so far. In the run-up to the agreement, the public discussion on the technical study on the planned rail way was limited to municipalities which explicitly declared their willingness to contribute to the best possible execution of the project. These deficiencies in the planning process reflect the state of our institutions and their distance from the needs and demands of the citizens.
