European Affairs Minister Raffaele
Fitto said Tuesday the government would defend the "peculiarity"
of Italy's high home ownership rate and its sensitivity to its
housing heritage against an EU 'Green home' scheme that would
require owners to spend heavily on environmental upgrades to
raise energy efficiency by 2033.
Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party
has filed a resolution in the House aimed at stopping the
EU directive on Green homes that it said would hit some nine
million Italian home owners who might be asked to pay
"exorbitant" sums to boost their residences' energy efficiency
in the next 10 years.
Fitto, an FdI heavyweight, said Tuesday that "Italy cannot
tackle the issue of energy efficiency in buildings like other
countries. The government will present its own plan. There is a
peculiarity of our country and the government will defend this
peculiarity".
The minister, who also has the briefs for the South, Cohesion
Policies and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP),
said "Italy has a different sensitivity on the issue of real
estate and housing. And our real estate is also different
because of its architectural, historical and cultural value".
Some 3.1-3-7 million homes in Italy will be affected by a
proposed European Union directive on Green homes which Italy is
trying to stop because it allegedly puts an intolerable
financial burden on home-owners, Brussels sources said last
month, an estimate that is appreciably lower than the Italian
government's.
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