Government

Cdm approves agriculture decree: there is agreement on photovoltaics

Also under consideration is the declaration of a state of drought emergency for Sicily

6 May 2024

3' min read

The Council of Ministers, after a meeting that lasted about two and a half hours, approved the decree law with urgent provisions for agricultural, fishing and aquaculture enterprises, as well as for enterprises of national strategic interest (that is, the former Ilva). However, the provision that envisaged a state guarantee on the future sale of the former Ilva to protect a future buyer was dropped. Instead, an agreement was found on the photovoltaic plants. The declaration of a state of emergency drought for Sicily was also approved.

The decree law on military unions was also approved. On the other hand, two other measures scheduled for preliminary examination were not examined: a legislative decree with supplementary and corrective provisions to the business crisis and insolvency code and one of the President of the Republic for the amendment of the regulation on criteria and procedures for the use of the share of the eight per thousand of the Irpef devolved to the State.

Meloni: we will continue working to defend strategic sectors

"We will continue to work to defend strategic sectors for our nation such as agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, breeding and the entire world of Italian production. Forward like this,' wrote Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a message posted on X.

Lollobrigida: stop wild installation of photovoltaics on the ground

With the agriculture decree, said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida at a press conference, 'we are putting an end to the wild installation of photovoltaics on the ground, we are intervening pragmatically by safeguarding certain areas. We have chosen to limit this ban to productive land,' for example, 'on quarries it will be possible to continue producing energy' and 'we are going to safeguard the funds of the NRP, which we do not intend to call into question in any way'.

The role of hunting guards has been expanded

Lollobrigida explained: 'We give the possibility of extending the role of hunting guards to associations that are legitimised to carry out anti-poaching and control the regular performance of all the activities required by law'. And he added: 'This broadens the spectrum of associations that will be able to have, with a certification that must be given to those who perform this function, the control in particular of anti-poaching, which is the element on which we hope the guards who have this type of configuration will move'.

Ex Ilva, regulations to ensure business continuity

In the agriculture decree, the government has included rules to ensure the continuity of operations of the former Ilva with urgent funding of EUR 150 million. "This is the third intervention since the beginning of the year aimed at guaranteeing the operational and occupational continuity of the plants, supporting the work of the commissioners and intervening where the previous management did not follow up on the commitments made at the time,' the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy explained.

National Drought Emergency Sicily

On a proposal by the Minister for Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci, the government has declared a state of national emergency for 12 months in relation to the serious water shortage in the Sicilian Region. An initial allocation of EUR 20 million was also approved to enable the Region to implement immediate interventions.

Lollobrigida, reinforced role of drought commissioner

"We reinforce the role of drought commissioner Nicola Dell'Acqua, who has drawn up an extraordinary plan, and we authorise him to carry out urgent interventions to succeed in making the Italian water system more efficient," said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida. We need 'planning to deal in infrastructural terms with a critical situation that has now become cyclical,' he added: 'drought is not an emergency, every five years or so it devastates our territory, in this case Sicily, but it has happened to other regions. With climate change, the effects are likely to increase'.