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Stop the 5 euro in Piedmont: what the EU directive says and why there are bumper cars in the centre-right

8 months ago babelfish

Stop the 5 euro in Piedmont: what the EU directive says and why there are bumper cars in the centre-right

Stop to euro 5 cars in Piedmont, a region governed by the center-right: the ban starts from 15 September and until 15 April. But Minister Salvini thunders against Europe. Facts, insights and controversies

The Euro 5 stop will be triggered in Piedmont from 15 September. The Piedmont Region has established that Euro 5 cars will no longer be able to circulate and will affect, on weekdays, the capital Turin and 75 other municipalities in Piedmont, until the next 15 April. The government, starting with Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, wants to intervene to prevent the ban from entering into force. "The EU's infringement procedure against Italy, which also involves Piedmont, imposes very heavy measures on us that we are forced to implement," said Piedmont governor Alberto Cirio, head of a centre-right majority.

WHY EURO 5 CARS ARE STOPPED IN PIEDMONT

The decision to stop Euro 5 cars, taken by the Piedmont Region, came after the start of the European Commission's infringement procedure against Italy for violations of the air pollution limits. Two years ago, our country was sentenced to a fine of 250 million euros for exceeding the emission limits of pm10 fine particles. These limits are established by Directive 50 on air quality of 2008.

WHAT THE AIR QUALITY DIRECTIVE STATES

The directive establishes measures aimed at:

  • define and establish air quality objectives in order to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment as a whole;
  • assess ambient air quality in the Member States on the basis of common methods and criteria;
  • obtain information on ambient air quality to help combat air pollution and its harmful effects and to monitor long-term trends and improvements achieved through the application of national and Community measures;
  • ensure that information on ambient air quality is made publicly available;
  • maintaining ambient air quality, where it is good, and improving it in other cases;
  • promote greater cooperation between Member States in the fight against air pollution.

MEASURES TO CONTRAST AIR POLLUTION

In the event that "in certain areas or agglomerations there is a risk that the levels of pollutants exceed one or more alarm thresholds", the Member States are required to develop and implement "action plans containing indications on the measures to be taken in the short deadline to reduce the risk or duration of the exceedance. If the risk relates to one or more limit values ​​or target values”. This is the case of the stop to euro 5 cars in Piedmont.

OTHER MEASURES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF AIR QUALITY

However, the blockade is not the only measure that the Piedmont Region will introduce to reduce air pollution. Other measures, less invasive and with a positive and non-prescriptive approach, include the promotion of mobility, the reduction of traffic with the creation of Ztl and paid parking, the improvement of urban heating.

STEFANO LO RUSSO: "WE WILL ADAPT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE REGION"

“As the city of Turin, we obviously comply with the provisions issued by the regional council, which is responsible for the final decision. Like all the municipal administrations that will be involved, we will adapt to what will be the decisions of the superordinate bodies ". To say it is the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo. “We know very well that air pollution is a crucial issue – he explained – it is for us above all and in recent months we have introduced a significant amount of infrastructural-building projects for the rehabilitation of many buildings and for the containment energy consumption, which is an important component of air pollution in Turin”.

THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO BLOCK THE STOP OF THE EURO 5

Transport Minister Matteo Salvini contacted fellow Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin to find a solution to the provision of the Piedmont Region which he branded as "yet another forcing of Brussels". Even tougher is the position of Lega senator Claudio Borghi who in a live broadcast on Twitter advised to “not care about everything and go to a vertical confrontation with Europe. Anti-Europeanism will sooner or later come back into fashion”.

THE REGION'S BUFFER SOLUTION TO THE STOP OF THE EURO 5

Meanwhile, an initial solution could be found in the installation of Move In, a black box that guarantees an exemption of 9,000 kilometers per year for private cars and 11,000 for commercial vehicles. The Region is also studying the possibility of installing the appliance at no cost to private individuals.

TORINO COMMITTEE BREATHES SATISFIED WITH THE STOP AT EURO 5

The Torino Respira Committee is satisfied with the initiative. The environmental association, in fact, presented the complaint that started the investigation into the smog which today sees former mayors and former regional administrators under investigation with the accusation of not having implemented actions to drastically reduce the danger of air pollution.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/stop-alle-euro-5-in-piemonte-cosa-dice-la-direttiva-ue-e-perche-ce-scontro-nel-centrodestra/ on Wed, 30 Aug 2023 08:20:29 +0000.