(Adnkronos) – Tensions over the New Year’s Eve fire at a bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort that killed 41 people including six Italians and which were heightened by a request last month for 100,000 Swiss francs for a day’s hospital treatment of four Italians injured in the blaze, are “a setback” to “otherwise excellent” bilateral ties, according to ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado.
“In the crisis between Italy and Switzerland, a more ethical approach has been pitted against a more bureaucratic one,“ Cornado told Swiss radio, saying that the sending of “exhorbitant” bills for medical expenses “has shocked the families, but also a section of public opinion”.
“This is how a new chasm of misunderstanding has opened up between Italy and Switzerland,” Cornado said.
“Otherwise, bilateral relations between Italy and Switzerland are excellent in all areas: cultural, scientific, military, Europe, and also on issues relating to the Italian community and border residents,” Cornado added.
Italy’s prime Giorgia Meloni described the news that families of the fire victims had been billed for medical treatment in Switzerland with costs planned to be charged to Italy’s health ministry as “disgraceful”.
“Should this disgraceful request be made formally, I hereby announce that Italy will reject it outright and will not act upon it in any way, she wrote on social media.
Patients wounded in the Crans-Montana fire have been treated for months at the Niguarda hospital in Milan, northern Italy, and Italy sent a civil protection helicopter to assist with rescue operations without asking for any money, according to Cornado.
Nine people are under criminal investigation in Switzerland for the Crans-Montana blaze, which as well as killing 41 people left 115 injured, many of them badly burned.
Crans-Montana Mayor Nicolas Feraud and the bar’s owners Jacques and Jessica Moretti are among those being probed over the fire. The suspects face charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
