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Franco Bechis
There is only one thing that unites all the souls of the 5-Star Movement who instead beat each other: Virginia Raggi’s new nomination as mayor of Rome. In private almost no one believes it, but in public everyone says it almost to show that there is at least one point in common alongside the dissensions. I also heard Barbara Lezzi say that today we are interviewing on these pages and that she is not sending them to tell Grillini about representatives of the current government. Then when you ask everyone why that new nomination, they stutter at first, then they all go straight to what looks like a banner: “He has cleared the accounts, look at the Atac.” And indeed, this art house balloon circulates a lot in 5-star propaganda, even if it is the most sensational fake news: it is news without any pale foundation to put it old-fashioned.
And on the other hand it seems very difficult even if you want to look for something in the Raggi credit that indicates the management of the investee companies in Rome, which were his real Waterloo. He sent an army of executives, which he substituted for the speed of the clouds in the sky when there is turbulence, and when they were not stopped by the Rome prosecutor as happened with the then president of Acea Luca Lanzalone. they have led to an infinite series of legal confrontations as happened with the Ama. Now there is this very imaginative fable of the rehabilitation of Atac, the transport company of Rome that the citizens of the capital know very well for the daily inefficiencies that hinder their movements in the city. Take as a flagship a company that has seen dozens of buses burn in the last two years, sometimes risking the lives of drivers and passengers and that manages the city’s metro where the escalators to access the stations are constantly closed. grotesque in the eyes of any citizen.
The legend of Atac’s recovery arises from the fact that in 2018 (a little) and in 2019 a budgetary profit reappeared. The last financial year closed with a profit of 7.6 million euros, and for years that balance was closed in the red. Without taking anything away from the willing managers who run it, that economic result is false, however, the result of a pure financial composition that has taken from the company a ball and chain that weighed like a stone. Thanks to the pact entered into with the creditors that could have made Atac fail and opted for patience in the hope of obtaining some of the claimed credits, the company was admitted by the court of Rome to the agreement with the creditors that allows its management in business continuity. To do this, however, Atac’s debt with the municipality of Rome was “postponed” and it is not peanuts: 515.2 million euros. This sum that weighed with its charges in the budget was frozen until December 31, 2039, when it will have to be returned in a single solution to the municipality. Between now and then another four mayors will be elected, and only in the hands of the fourth will that time bomb explode. Those 515.2 million euros that are not returned to the municipality of Rome cut the resources necessary to rebuild the streets, to maintain the green, to pay for the operation of the city. The citizens of Rome are already paying them. Of course, that avalanche aside, Atac accounts immediately take on another aspect, but by doing so a child can handle it too, in addition to recovery.
Let’s pretend there is no such accounting makeup that in fact “misleads” the actual accounts of the Municipality’s branch, not that Atac’s financial statements have suddenly turned pink and white. The year before Raggi became mayor, in 2015, Atac’s turnover was 995.2 million euros. In 2019 it fell to 954.4 million euros, losing 40.8 million in turnover. This is already a failure. But in this volume of business the main weight is that of public aid, which largely comes from taxes of the citizens of Rome. From 2015 to date, Atac’s revenue from integrated ticket sales has increased from 260.7 to 272.8 million euros (growth of 4.65%, equivalent to 12.1 million euros). Only the sale of Atac shares went from 97.6 to 98.3 million euros (+ 0.76%, equivalent to 748,320 euros). It has improved a little, but above all public contributions have grown for service contracts and for the reimbursement of tariff concessions granted. Revenue from service contracts increased by 55 million euros (+ 10.74%) from 512 to 567 million euros. Most of this figure comes from the coffers of the municipality of Rome, and therefore from the taxes of the Romans who paid 48.4 million more to the Atac (+ 10.97%) thanks to transfers that went from 441 to 489.4 million euros. The same happens with the refunds in tariff concessions: with the Rays they went from 16.5 to 19.8 million euros. The increase was 20.01% and in absolute value of 3.3 million euros.
So the truth is that the balance sheets of the Rome transport company have not been restored at all: the debt of who will be there in 20 years has been paid. Not only that: with the Rays, the citizens of Roma Atac today cost more than 50 million euros more than they did when Ignazio Marino was mayor. This is the naked reality, which cannot be scratched with the vulgar propaganda that the M5s spread with big hands much worse than those parties of the First and Second Republic of which they wanted to be an antidote.
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