Premier Giorgia Meloni and Foreign
Minister Antonio Tajani have both said they are unaware of the
details of Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini's proposal for
a scheme that would enable property owners to have small-scale
illegal building work pardoned.
The transport and infrastructure ministry said Thursday that
there was a plan for a package of measures to "regularize small
discrepancies or structural irregularities which, according to a
study, affect almost 80% of Italian properties".
It said local authorities and construction-sector associations
have been calling for such a move.
Late on Thursday, Meloni said "I don't know about this measure,
I'm not able to express an opinion on it", while adding that
Salvini had mentioned something along those lines to her in the
past.
And on Friday Forza Italia leader Tajani, who, like Salvini, is
also deputy premier, said he was in the dark too.
"I don't know about the proposal, but I must say that a Forza
Italia proposal on urban regeneration, which includes the things
Salvini talked about, is already in the Senate," Tajani said on
the sidelines of a health conference.
"It's not possible to have an amnesty (on illegal building
work), but some things that do not cause substantial alterations
to buildings can be pardoned.
"If the League's proposal goes in our direction, then it's
welcome.
"But I absolutely don't know the text and I don't think anyone
has ever seen it.
"We will evaluate it when it is presented".
Italy has had many amnesties on illegal building in the past, in
part in order to raise revenues by getting property owners to
pay to have the irregularities pardoned.
Critics says such measures encourage illegal building work.
Angelo Bonelli, an MP for the Green-Left Alliance (AVS), said it
would be the 19th amnesty the Meloni government has adopted
since taking power.
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