The pendulum that affects the health of Europeans seems to have gone crazy. In Strasbourg 381 parliamentarians voted for a directive against air pollution. The provision has something revolutionary about it, as it even provides compensation for those who complain of damage to their health due to high quantities of emissions. As many as 225 parliamentarians voted against, representing – hopefully involuntarily – an ugly cynicism for the 300 thousand deaths per year, precisely, due to environmental pollution. The swing of the pendulum strikes Italy in particular.
Of all the European countries, the centre-right government was sanctioned in March for not even applying the previous rules. It so happens that by June the Minister of the Environment will have to bring the Climate Plan to Brussels indicating what he really wants to do to protect the country from disasters of all kinds. The EU Commission's judgment on Italy's environmental capacity is suspended, but it would be better to say that it is negative. And this beyond the photo opportunity of the G7 or of the commitments undertaken, for which there is no money and that of the Pnrr is spent at a snail's pace.
Eighty thousand premature deaths
The new directive, however, is not a good policy example. The crackdown on nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions has six years to come to fruition. “The action plan for zero pollution – it is written – defines a vision for 2050, in which air pollution is reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to health”. Faced with thousands of deaths every year, European parliamentarians have agreed to thrash governments and mayors in a quarter of a century. It's a gradual approach, it has been said, and the directive lacks figures to invest, it only states the types for possible compensation. It is essential that governments standardize the rules to be implemented, the Commission explained
What will Italy do after the directive is approved by the European Council? First of all he will have to include it in the Pniec which he must send to Brussels. And then it should begin to structure national provisions to halve pollution in cities. There is no need to wait until 2030 or the remote 2050. From North to South the situation is already very serious with cities in the Po Valley systematically ranking among the first in Europe. The right that has speculated and attacked measures such as car speeds 30 per hour in Bologna has the opportunity to examine his conscience. Statistics indicate 70 thousand deaths prematurely per year due to smog, pm10 emissions and much more. The nation of Giorgia Meloni she is mortally wounded and she has every interest in making herself heard by her ministers. He will do it?
