Italy vetoes EU ‘green homes’ directive

The EU passed its Green Homes directive on Friday despite vetoes from Italy and Hungary and abstentions from Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.

Italy’s Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said the measure, which sets emissions reductions targets for all residential and non-residential buildings with the aim of making the EU’s building sector climate neutral by 2050, was unrealistic.

“It is a beautiful, ambitious directive, but who pays in the end?” Giorgetti told journalists.

Italy’s government has so far spent €122 billion on its post-pandemic ‘superbonus’ scheme which offered homeowners generous tax rebates on renovations – an amount that has significantly increased the burden on the country’s public debt.

Mattarella says Italy must support families

Italy’s government has a constitutional duty to support young couples looking to start a family, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said at the conference ‘For a Young Europe: Demographic Transition, Environment, Future’ on Friday.

The country must “implement active policies that allow young couples to realize their life plans, overcoming the difficulties of a material nature and those regarding access to services that make the path to parenthood difficult,” he said.

“It is a question of implementing what is dictated by the constitution”.

Recently published data from Italian statistics bureau Istat showed that Italy’s population shrank again in 2023, with the number of babies being born at a near-record low and a growing number of Italians leaving the country.

Italy’s government approved a raft of measures aimed at boosting the country’s birth rate in its 2024 budget, including increasing certain subsidies and benefits for families with two or more children.

Italy to enjoy one more day of warm weather

Temperatures remained above seasonal averages across Italy on Monday, set to reach the mid to high 20s (Celsius) again in the afternoon in many parts of the country following an unusually warm and sunny weekend.

But from Tuesday, normal spring temperatures and showers were forecast across the country as a cold air front moves in from northern Europe.

Cloudy and unstable weather conditions were forecast to return from Tuesday evening, with maximum temperatures of around 12-14 degrees expected in northern and central parts of Italy on Wednesday, and highs of 16-18 in the south.

Heavy rain and potentially stormy conditions were forecast in the north-east of the country on Tuesday, while Sicily, Calabria and parts of Molise were likely to see heavy rain and wind.