Euro 5 diesel vehicles: a one-year suspension of the driving ban in the north
The Council of Ministers has approved the decree announced in recent days by Minister Salvini. It will affect 1.2 million cars and 200,000 vans
Another year’s reprieve before the ban on Euro 5 diesel vehicles comes into force in the regions of the Po Valley. The Council of Ministers has approved the decree-law proposed by the Minister for Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, which postpones the deadline set by national legislation from 1 October 2026 to 1 October 2027. And it concerns Lombardy. ‘Under a European regulation from 20 years ago, we would have had to leave hundreds of thousands of people stranded simply because they have the misfortune of owning a Euro 5 diesel vehicle,’ said the minister at a press conference, explaining the measure. ‘This is legislation that is anything but green – if anything, it’s black.’
The amendment consists of just a few words, contained in the only substantive article of the draft decree, but it affects the timetable for air quality measures in Lombardy and safeguards – whilst strengthening – the suspension measures already adopted in Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. The immediate effect therefore mainly concerns Milan, Brescia, Monza and Bergamo, where the ban was due to come into force next week, on Thursday 1 October. The Ministry in Porta Pia has provided the figures and outlined the impact: there are approximately 3.5 million Euro 5 diesel passenger cars and 600,000 commercial vehicles of the same emissions class registered in Italia. In the Po Valley, over 1.2 million passenger cars and 200,000 commercial vehicles are in use. ‘The answer in the name of the environment is not “stay at home”, because those who still drive a Euro 5 vehicle do so not because it is fashionable but because they cannot afford to buy a new vehicle,’ added the minister.
The decree amends the 2023 regulation governing air quality measures in the four regions. In the preamble to the decree, the Government justifies the urgency by citing the need to avoid ‘significant repercussions on citizens’ mobility, the continuity of transport services and the economic and productive systems of the areas concerned’. The additional time, as stated in the text, is intended to enable the regions to finalise the measures required to meet the air quality targets set out in European and national legislation.
Meanwhile, however, three regions had already taken steps to address the situation. Piedmont was the first to lift the structural ban on Euro 5 diesel vehicles. In its place, it introduced air quality measures worth over 100 million euros. Veneto has also postponed the ban until 1 October 2027, whilst adopting compensatory measures. Emilia-Romagna has, in turn, suspended the permanent ban until October 2027. In Lombardy, however, the ban was due to come into force next week.
