Heating down by two degrees, discounts on public transport and speed limits reduced to 20 kilometers per hour in cities. Therefore, in urban centers it will be possible to travel at no more than 30 km per hour. These are three of the measures contained in the package designed by the Ministry of the Environment to respond to the smog emergency. Provisions that take effect in the event of exceeding the fine dust limits for more than 7 consecutive days but on which the last word will still be up to the mayors.
Municipalities can decide or not to adopt these measures. “For me they have to do it, but the mayors have to decide,” explained the Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti which also announced a twelve million euro fund immediately available for the initiatives of the Municipalities on local public transport and shared mobility, underlining the need for the cities to replace any obsolete bus fleets.
“It is necessary to think of an extraordinary fund for everything needed to scrap the most polluting cars, a fund that will have to have a certain stake, to which the Regions will have to contribute as they can. Incentivising the replacement of vehicles is important for reducing emissions”, explained the president of the Conference of Regions Stefano Bonaccini.
The decisions were taken at the meeting organized at the Ministry of the Environment with the minister, the governors and the mayors of the big cities. Also present were the head of the Civil Protection, Fabrizio Curcio, and the director general of Ispra, Stefano Laporta, the extraordinary commissioner of Rome Francesco Paolo Tronca, the mayor of Turin and president of Anci Piero Fassino, the governor of Emilia Romagna and president of the State-Regions Conference Stefano Bonaccini, the president of the Lombardy Region Roberto Maroni, while the mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia and the president of the Lazio Region Nicola Zingaretti are absent, represented by councilors for the sector.
