“Our timetable remains unchanged,” he said.
His comments came after La Repubblica newspaper reported that France was postponing its section of the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail link until after 2043 because “it is too expensive”.
“The French government has not decided on any postponement in the timetable related to the Lyon-Turin TAV,” Beaune said, adding that reports of postponements in the construction of certain facilities refer not to decisions taken, “but to an independent report delivered to the government”.
Earlier Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini called for “clarity, seriousness and respect for agreements” from France.
“Italy has stood and stands by its word, and it cannot accept a turnaround on an important work not only for the two countries but for the whole of Europe,” Salvini said.
The project to build an international rail line linking the Italian and French high-speed networks via a tunnel under the Alps has been dogged by controversy and delays amid frequent protests particularly in Piedmont's Susa valley, the entrance to the tunnel on the Italian side.
ANSA
