Is the Italian Government Risking Sun Stroke?
What a shame!
To overcome the current economic and financial crisis Italy plays the card of improvisation without considering the consequences. But what can get worse an unpopular decision? The answer seems to be: the mental instability of the decision maker.
I’m going to explain better what happened..
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Among the others actions to face the crisis, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced to abolish the incentives for eco efficency programmes put in action by the last Prime Minister Romano Prodi. We have to come back to 2005, when Italy pledged a 55% tax deduction over three years for solar heating and a tax credit on heating from geothermal sources and bio-mass used for district heating. It also established an incentive fund for ultra efficient buildings. An important step for a country so reluctant to follow Europen standards on reduction of carbon emissions.
And some days ago, the Italian government not only decided to abolish these incentives for the future, it even set a retroactive value freezing out the tax deductions granted during 2007.
Today arrives another change…
Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti revokes everything, a backward step to quiet that part of Italy (especially the north) that in the last year have invested a lot of money in renewable energy for private houses and companies.
Citizens, house-builders, “green workers” up in arms!
The real problem of this twisted game is that the Italian government is going to nullify the efforts made in the past to create an environmental awareness among citizens.
In this cooling-off period, who will be prepared again to risk in eco efficiency??
Sources: L’Unità - La Repubblica
Image courtesy of Gaetan Lee on Flickr under Creative Commons
Iam sorry to hear this, although I would have liked a little more flushing out of the story. I wonder if the author might have enough freinds in Italy who have friends (etc., etc.) who could be organized to write to their local newspapers, find or creat organizations and contact their Italian government reps to voice their concerns for their environment out loud in the press as well as through individual letters to their President’s office.
Hello. I’m a little confused and a very great deal worried by finding this article by accident.
I’ve fought for the environment all my life. Last year I invested a very substantial part of my very small capital in the European initiative to help with the installation of 4&1/2(four and a half) kw PV cells for the clean production of electricity. In exchange I receive 3kw and an ‘incentive’ which over some years was designed to cover the cost of installation and give me a small income. The administration of this scheme was recently shifted from Enel (electricity producer)to Rome.
Are you saying that it is now affected, retrospectively?
Dear Mr. Phillips,
I appreciate and to some degree share your position of investment in environmentally progressive technologies. As per your question, however, I think that it would be best to contact the company or broker through which you placed your investment. They should be able to offer amble information about any changes in law that would affect your investment.
Best,
Gavin