Building, the appeal to Meloni: 'A big mistake, no new amnesties'

An appeal so that 'this serious mistake is not made'. The country "does not need a new building amnesty but norms that will allow a great urban regeneration plan to be put in place that will progressively make all buildings less energy-consuming, less dangerous, more resilient and ready to respond to the effects of climatic and natural risks, such as earthquakes". This is the heart of the letter addressed to the premier Giorgia Meloni and signed by the presidents of Legambiente, Libera, Acli, Arci, Inu and Azione cattolica italiana.

A letter that rails against the amnesty projects (related to the 1985 and 2003 editions), contained in various amendments to the 2026 Budget law that, day after day, continue to advance towards approval. 'The regions of southern Italy,' they explain in the text, 'are heavily penalised, unfortunately, by building abuse. A phenomenon that, according to data published by ISTAT, will grow again by 9.1% from 2022, as it has not happened since 2004. The incidence of illegal constructions in the building market in these territories reaches dimensions defined as "unsustainable" by Istat, equal to 48.2 illegal houses for every 100 properties built in compliance with the rules.

Squatting is, then, rewarded by substantial impunity. "The civic monitoring carried out by Legambiente in 2023, to which 435 municipalities in the five most at-risk regions (Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily and Lazio) responded, showed that only 15.3% of the more than 70,000 demolition orders issued between 2004 and 2022 had been carried out". These numbers," the appeal continues, "call for strong and significant interventions to restore legality, safety and environmental protection. The exact opposite of what is likely to happen if, because of the need to make up for regulatory errors made twenty years ago by the Regione Campania, amendments to the 2026 Budget Law for the definition of a new, umpteenth building amnesty were to be approved .