As part of the meetings organized by Confedilizia in view of the European elections, the Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the Pnrr was interviewed, Raffaele Fittowho spoke – among other things – about green homes directive and of property taxation. “The intention is to intervene in a concrete way to reopen the issue,” underlined the minister, referring to the Energy performance of buildings directive published in the Official Journal of the EU on 8 May. Adding: “We must greatly strengthen the so-called ascending phase, that is, we must be able to intervene at a preliminary stage, we must not chase the measures.”
Speaking precisely of the so-called green homes directive, which was approved by the European Parliament last 12 March and which received the green light from Ecofin last 12 April, the Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the Pnrr said: “ I think this topic is very relevant because it introduces a first consideration into the European debate: a one-size-fits-all fit for all Member States on all topics cannot be accepted. There is the need to defend and vindicate, where necessary and this is one of those cases, the peculiarities of each individual Member State”.
Fitto then highlighted: “This premise on the green homes directive and more generally on the topic of housing has an even greater value if it is true, as it is true, that the relationship between citizens and the ownership of homes, with the particularity of our homes and our historic centres, cannot be compared in the same way with all other countries”.
The minister then recalled the different ones changes that affected the green homes directive and explained: “We have introduced elements of greater flexibility for each State; we have included exemptions, particularly for heritage that has historical and architectural value; and then we sided quite clearly and strongly against the provision, which we consider unacceptable, of sanctions against the owners”.
The Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the Pnrr then spoke about the fact that Italy voted against the text and underlined: “We will certainly return to raise the problem because there is an issue that concerns not only this directive, but also other directives.” And he added: “We must greatly strengthen the so-called ascending phase, that is, we must be able to intervene at a preliminary stage, we must not chase the measures.” The minister then stated that regarding the European directive on green homes there is the intention to “intervene in a concrete way to reopen the issue”.
Another topic addressed is that relating to the request, also recently made by the OECD, to shift taxes from labor to real estate. In this regard, Fitto said: “The issue of taxation is an issue that the government decides. As we said before, a one-size-fits-all suit is not good, because the approach on the topic, for example, of the home is not the same throughout Europe. We have a theme of values, this is one of the elements that characterizes the identity of our country. In Italy, families have been working to buy a house for generations. Buying a home is a lifetime achievement. Now, hypothesizing that the sacrifice of a life or, even, the sacrifice of generations – precisely because the house is handed down from father to son for generations – could become the object of taxation without any criteria, as far as we are concerned, is unacceptable. At a European level there is a need to make people understand what the peculiarities of each individual country are.”
