Cars, stop the Euro 5 diesel cut-off: the League's amendment for a one-year postponement tabled

Avoiding the Euro 5 diesel block for another year, offering the regions the possibility of avoiding it even later. This is what is envisaged by a Lega Lega amendment to the infrastructure decree, approved in the Cdm on 19 May and approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 3 June. The deadline for submitting amendments began on Wednesday afternoon, 11 June, with an avalanche of proposed changes, about 700 according to leaks. Minister Salvini had already announced in recent days a solution using the train of amendments to the decree, without which 'older diesel engines could be stopped from next October,' according to a note from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The amendment presented by the Carroccio, 'aims to postpone everything to 31 October 2026, with the possibility for the regions concerned to anticipate or further delay the stop'. For the League, 'the objective is twofold: on the one hand, to protect families who risk being without a car. On the other, to respect the autonomy of the regions'. Any delay in the freeze, adds the Lega's text, will have to be accompanied by compensatory measures to protect the environment, such as making buildings more energy efficient or increasing public green spaces.

Yesterday's controversy was triggered by the announcement of the amendment to the text, without which the Euro 5 engine ban will be triggered from October. We will do everything we can to stop the Euro 5 diesel ban," announced Carroccio group leader Riccardo Molinari. "In line with what the League has always advocated, we have in fact tabled an amendment to the Infrastructure Decree to prevent the Euro 5 diesel car ban in the northern regions and give them the chance to avert it, first for a year and then definitively by adopting new measures. The ideological environmentalism of Brussels is in fact a war against workers and the working classes that the League will continue to defend instead'.

A solution also desired by the northern governors, all centre-right, who did not fail to support Salvini's solution. "Today, in an interview with the Corriere della Sera, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport reiterated his intention to include in the law converting the infrastructure decree an amendment to avoid the block on Euro 5 diesel vehicles currently scheduled for 1 October in Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto, also opening up the possibility of identifying alternative measures that would guarantee similar effects on air quality without blocking cars, penalising families and businesses,' the presidents of Piedmont, Alberto Cirio; Lombardy, Attilio Fontana; and Veneto, Luca Zaia, explained in a joint statement. It is appreciable that the government is coming up with a proposal that, proceeding in the direction that we as regional presidents have long shared and supported, intends to take charge of a situation that would impact the lives of millions of citizens".

In the meantime, among the seven hundred amendments tabled, there is also a provision, again by the Carroccio, for the municipalities to formally communicate all the speed cameras on their territory. "In the absence of information," reads a note from the League, "the devices will not be able to come into operation. It is a necessary step to obtain precise data that Matteo Salvini's ministry has been asking for some time without obtaining exhaustive answers'.