Privatisation only a sham?

摘要

The course of the state-owned ferry company Tirrenia di Navigazione SpA seems to be a never-ending odyssey. The European Union in Brussels decreed that the company had to be privatised, but numerous attempts to comply with this request have been unsuccessful so far. The latest call to tender for Tirrenia initially awoke the interest of 16 parties, though the only contender to stay the course was Mediteranea Holding, an entity formed by the government of Sicily and private shipping lines. The deadline was repeatedly postponed, but that has failed to help so far. Now the Italian government has decided to divest itself of the Tirrenia subsidiary Siremar on its own. The latter is responsible for operating services to/from Sicily.