Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
SYRACUSE / POLITICS & ENVIRONMENT – A political row has erupted over the future of the Iblei National Park. The issue has been raised locally by Salvo La Delfa, provincial co-spokesperson for Europa Verde – Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, who has echoed and endorsed the strong stance taken by national MP Angelo Bonelli against an amendment tabled by the League in the Chamber’s Environment Committee.
Under fire is amendment 3.6 to Legislative Decree 177/2026, signed by League MPs Zinzi, Sudano and Carrà, which would reportedly abolish the protected area covering 146,000 hectares across the provinces of Syracuse, Ragusa and Catania – involving 27 municipalities and natural and archaeological sites such as Pantalica, the Anapo Valley, Cava Grande del Cassibile and Cava d’Ispica.
Bonelli: “Safeguard measures also scrapped to bypass the TAR”
According to the Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra member, the proposed amendment would not only remove the park from the 2007 law that provides for its creation but would also nullify all acts adopted so far, including existing protection measures:
“Salvini’s League drops the mask: it is an enemy of parks and nature. With amendment 3.6 it is asking to abolish the Iblei National Park. The amendment does not just remove the park from the 2007 law that provides for its establishment: it also cancels all the acts already done, including the safeguard measures. It means giving free rein to quarries, concrete and speculation,” Bonelli said.
The MP also contests the reference to hydrogeological instability, calling it a mere political pretext just days before the expiry of the 180 days granted by the regional administrative court (TAR) of Catania to the Region of Sicily and the Ministry of the Environment to complete the establishment process after nearly 20 years of delays:
“The League says it is doing this for hydrogeological remediation, but it is a pretext: the amendment does not allocate a single euro, does not provide for any intervention, does not specify a treatment plant. It is written only to abolish the park. It is an attempt to bypass a court ruling with a coup in the committee, overriding the very territories in whose name the League claims to speak.”
Appeal to premier Meloni and minister Pichetto Fratin
In his remarks, Bonelli contrasts the Iblei situation with the €14.5 billion allocation for the Strait of Messina Bridge, instead highlighting the economic and environmental role of the protected area for tourism and excellence in production such as Monti Iblei PDO olive oil, and directly calls on Palazzo Chigi and the Environment Ministry:
- The Government’s responsibility: “Giorgia Meloni is also responsible for this attack on nature. Legislative Decree 177 bears her signature and that of minister Pichetto Fratin, and the majority is hers: if this amendment passes, it is because the prime minister has decided to sacrifice a national park to concrete and to the votes of those who speculate on the land. Meloni cannot look the other way. We are asking her and minister Pichetto Fratin to state clearly whether the government stands with the League or with the law and with the TAR ruling, and to give a negative opinion on the amendment.”
- Opposition in the Environment Committee: “On Tuesday in the Environment Committee we will oppose this with all our strength. We will ask for the amendment to be declared inadmissible because it is unrelated to the content of Legislative Decree 177, whose Article 3 concerns hydrogeological risk, and we will vote against it. The Iblei Park must be created, as provided for by the state law for the past 19 years,” Bonelli concluded.
