Brussels returns to greenhouses. And the debate on the European directive for the energy efficiency of housing is reignited. The Meloni government does not give up: community law as it stands must be thrown into the trash. And this despite Europe trying to sweeten the pill, through the rapporteur of the European Parliament on the directive on energy performance in buildings, Ciarán Cuffe (Verdi-Efa). The Irish parliamentarian claims that there has been “a lot of misinformation in Italy”, since “it has already been said that Brussels will tell the Member States what to do, but nothing is further from reality”. Not only. The MEP adds that the amendments introduced by the European Parliament “leave to the States ample flexibility for their National Rehabilitation Plans”, in addition to helping “to create jobs and make available to European citizens housing with lower energy consumption, improve the quality of life”.
A kind of deceleration that does not make the Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, retreat an inch. “To achieve energy efficiency in Italian homes, it is necessary to help and support families and companies, without forcing or penalizing, under penalty of the directive that Europe wants to become patrimonial – articulates the Deputy Prime Minister of the League From north -. Two Italian pillars such as the house and the car cannot be put at risk in the name of sustainability: common sense is needed at a delicate moment like this». And he announces that tomorrow, when the directive comes to be voted in the Brussels commission, “the League will oppose the new European taxation of the house”.
We remind you that the text, still provisional, after voting tomorrow in the Itre commission, will reach the plenary in March. Cuffe himself underlines that «we asked to define the new energy class G as the 15% of buildings with the worst performance in that member state. So – explains the Irish parliamentarian – this allows for flexibility when realizing that countries like Finland have very high energy performance and other member states are much lower. Thus, each member state is proportionally asked to address the worst performing buildings in that state. And I think we have a lot of flexibility».
Statements that do not resonate with the majority that continue to reject the EU directive. A directive that does not sit well even with the Minister of Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, according to whom “it certainly must be changed to adapt it to the Italian context, which is different and special in relation to the European one”. What, among other things, that Cuffe still not only knows how «I have no doubt that there are some houses, not only in Italy, but in all Member States, that will not be renovated in 600 years. But, more realistically, we want to double renovation rates in Europe.” And that has nothing to do with it, since, with the mandatory application of the directive, guidelines to encourage energy efficiency in homes would suffice. “While sharing the need to modernize our apartments from an environmental and energy point of view – declares Mauro Rotelli, deputy of the Brothers of Italy and president of the Environment Commission – we believe that this operation must be carried out following realistic objectives and an appropriate time frame”.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
