Lombardy: 'EU package is not enough for the relaunch of the car'

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The European Commission's automotive package, which envisages a partial revision of the sector's Co2 emission standards, is "a step forward" but it is not enough to safeguard and relaunch the European automotive sector. This is the position expressed by the Lombardy Region's Councillor for Economic Development, Guido Guidesi, who is also president of the Automotive Regions Alliance, the alliance of the 36 European automotive regions. "For us, much more will be needed," he stressed, explaining that the opening that came from Brussels "is the result of a very intense and demanding work that started in 2022 to try to avoid an industrial suicide decided by absurd and wrong rules". Guidesi recalled how Lombardy had immediately requested that we choose the path of technological neutrality in the face of the transition proposed by the European Union. It has never been 'a rearguard battle but a strategy based on data, research and innovation,' Guidesi explained, urging that none of the available technologies - electricity, renewable fuels and hydrogen - be left out of the decarbonisation process. In fact, 'ideology, rigidity, and the inability to listen have led us to a situation that is very difficult from an economic point of view and risky for the entire sector,' which is jeopardised by competition from companies such as those in China, which are also supported by the state and have lower production costs. On the other hand, 'the mobility of the future will only be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable if all technologies, including the endothermic, play a leading role,' he added.

In an interview with the Sole 24 Ore, Guidesi insisted that 'this is a first step forward, true, but it does not change the approach with which the Commission tackles industrial issues'. In particular, the Lombardy councillor demanded that 'to save the car, offsets and various credits and coefficients must disappear. Sustainable mobility in economic, environmental and social terms passes through full technological neutrality, which instead has not been examined'. Faced with this situation, Guidesi stressed that 'we will not give up. We intend to fight these proposals to change them because either they change or companies close. To achieve this, we are also prepared to go to Brussels to demonstrate in support of European manufacturing. Because it can be sustainable and have a future if it is freed from the constraints and uneconomic effects of EU rules'.

Recalling the path undertaken by Lombardy starting in 2022 to safeguard the automotive sector, the Region had already presented a study on renewable fuels by the Lombardy Mobility Cluster in 2023, which involved universities, research centres, companies and trade associations, with scientific contributions that were also validated internationally. The study demonstrated how alternative fuels were able to reduce emissions throughout the entire vehicle life cycle, while safeguarding employment, production chains and European competitiveness. Lombardy's commitment continued throughout 2024, with the high-level seminar on the 'Just transition' of automotive regions in Brussels (22 May) and the 'Political Breakfast' in the European Parliament on the future of the sector (15 October). On 28 November of the same year, on the occasion of the third annual conference of the Automotive Regions Alliance at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, the Lombardy presidency of the Alliance got underway, with the Region at the forefront in 2025. In particular, Lombardy led the direct confrontation with the European Commission at the February meeting in Brussels with Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and then presented the updated Manifesto on Renewable Fuels.