We'll defend Italy 'peculiarity' on Green homes - Fitto

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 7 - European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto said Tuesday the government would defend the "peculiarity" of Italy's high home ownership rate and its sensitivity to its housing heritage against an EU 'Green home' scheme that would require owners to spend heavily on environmental upgrades to raise energy efficiency by 2033.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party has filed a resolution in the House aimed at stopping the EU directive on Green homes that it said would hit some nine million Italian home owners who might be asked to pay "exorbitant" sums to boost their residences' energy efficiency in the next 10 years.
    Fitto, an FdI heavyweight, said Tuesday that "Italy cannot tackle the issue of energy efficiency in buildings like other countries. The government will present its own plan. There is a peculiarity of our country and the government will defend this peculiarity".
    The minister, who also has the briefs for the South, Cohesion Policies and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), said "Italy has a different sensitivity on the issue of real estate and housing. And our real estate is also different because of its architectural, historical and cultural value".
    Some 3.1-3-7 million homes in Italy will be affected by a proposed European Union directive on Green homes which Italy is trying to stop because it allegedly puts an intolerable financial burden on home-owners, Brussels sources said last month, an estimate that is appreciably lower than the Italian government's. (ANSA).