GUE/NGL MEPs Paul Murphy and Sabine Wils have expressed their support for the NO TAV movement ahead of a press event in Turin today.

The MEPs have long actively supported the NO TAV movement's fight to block plans to build a completely unnecessary new high speed rail infrastructure.

Irish MEP Paul Murphy said: “Given the drastic cuts to the EU's latest multiannual budget that were adopted for the period 2014-2020, the little money that remains in the pot should be spent on promoting sustainable forms of transport and infrastructure that benefit people and the environment, not useless projects like the Turin-Lyon high speed rail link.

“As 400 million euros have already been spent updating the existing rail tunnel between Turin and Lyon in order to improve cross border freight traffic, now we should be spending money on promoting renewable energy, improving local agriculture, and better developing natural resources.”

German MEP Sabine Wils said: “Even the European Commission is clearly unsure about the worth of this project as the only activity it is doing as part of its co-financing activities is the conducting of studies. And even new commitments will be conditioned by an already adopted Commission decision to cut co-financing by more than 40% (from € 671,8 million to € 395,2 million) due to a lack of economic reliability and engineering inadequacy.

“This Turin-Lyon rail project must immediately be abandoned. We can't justify such environmental destruction in the name of high speed rail travel.”

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:
Emily Macintosh +32 470 85 05 08
David Lundy +32 470 85 05 09
European United Left / Nordic Green Left
European Parliamentary Group