Short-term lettings: the right wing calls the EU plan madness. PD: ‘A necessary measure’
Supporters of Meloni, the centre-right and the Northern League stand united against the EU Commission’s proposal. Democratic Party MEP Nardella said: “The mayors’ request has been accepted; the Government can no longer ignore them.”
Key points
The new proposal for European regulations on short-term lettings is dividing Italian politics: welcomed by the PD, but deemed too lenient by the left, it is instead fuelling the rising Euroscepticism of a centre-right majority shaken by the rise of the far right in Germany and under threat at home from Roberto Vannacci.
The League against the Europe ‘of bureaucrats’
“Yet another attack by Brussels on homes, private property and the savings of Italians,” thunders the Lega led by Matteo Salvini. Following the ‘green homes’ scheme, this is yet another ‘Von der Leyen folly’, claims the Carroccio, reflecting ‘a Europe led by unelected bureaucrats’.
The Melonians: an ideological response to a real problem
The Melonians are also going on the offensive. According to FDI MEPs – group leader Carlo Fidanza, European Parliament Vice-President Antonella Sberna and Denis Nesci – the EU Commission is doing nothing but ‘fuelling the concerns of citizens that have already emerged in recent days’. The new rules “restrict property rights, encroach on Member States’ competences and pit regions against one another”. In short: whilst the housing crisis is real, the response “is ideological and based on bans”. A solution “imposed from above” that will discourage investment and further reduce the housing supply. The opposite, they argue, of the path taken by the Italian Housing Plan.
For Forza Italia, ‘the home is sacred’
“Jørgensen must stop,” protest the Azzurri too, who have always opposed crackdowns on the sector. The leader Antonio Tajani, in line with the position of the European People’s Party, has been repeating for days that “the home is sacred and private property must be defended. Forza Italia rejects the ideology of bans coming from Europe”.
The Democratic Party’s stance: a ‘necessary’ move
The Democrats, however, were won over. The measure is “long overdue” according to PD MEP Irene Tinagli, chair of the committee on the housing crisis: “There are cities where the number of flats available for short-term or tourist lets is now higher than those available for families, workers and young couples.” The ‘striking example’ is Florence, with its ‘14,000 flats let under traditional tenancy agreements and as many as 17,000 used for short-term and tourist lets’.
