Urso: Green Deal to be revised now or car industry collapses

"We cannot wait until the end of 2026 to review the targets of the Green Deal, otherwise we risk the collapse of the European car industry and the invasion of Brussels by workers in revolt". Adolfo Urso is as clear as he is worried while speaking at Villa d'Este, where he is addressing the 50th Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, on the prospects for the automotive industry after the cyclone produced in Germany by the announcements of possible closures of German plants of Volkswagen. The intention of the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy is to act immediately, and to ask for a drastic anticipation, to the first half of next year, of the check-up on the timetable drawn up in Brussels, which envisages the farewell to endothermic engines by 2035.

The first occasion for the Italian request will be the summit convened on 25 September in Brussels by the Hungarian presidency, followed the next day by the Competitiveness Council: 'We need to act now,' Urso relaunches, 'because keeping the sector in uncertainty about the future for two years means blocking investment completely.

The phase is a complex one, with the construction of the new EU executive led by Ursula von der Leyen, who in the last legislature had made the Green Deal the heart of the European political programme, before the Covid and the ensuing Recovery Plan revolutionised priorities. But the car problem, claims Urso, "is not just an Italian problem", because it is also and above all a German, and a French one. In a word, it is European: and this could facilitate the network of alliances to be woven to achieve a result.

Italy's position is clear, and revolves around the concept of 'technological neutrality' also relaunched by Chairman of Confindustria Emanuele Orsini to broaden the range of instruments through which to achieve the goals of reducing polluting emissions. Not a 'passatist' approach, claims Urso, who also emphasises, for example, the agreements made in recent months to boost Italy's weight in renewable energy production through offshore photovoltaic platforms.

Energy is the other central theme on the agenda browsed by Urso in Cernobbio. What is hindering Italian investments, says the holder of the Ministry of Enterprise, 'is no longer the cost of labour or political or regulatory uncertainty, but the cost of energy'. Which in the government's view should also be tackled by relaunching nuclear power in Italy.