Italy is leading the revolt against European Union plans to tighten emission limits and push drivers into electric vehicles (EVs) with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vowing to defend automotive industry jobs.
Meloni’s coalition gained power last October and immediately tried to thwart E.U. efforts to ban the sale of new cars running on fossil fuels by 2035, which her predecessor Mario Draghi had supported.
Italy argued that the E.U. should not mandate a total switch to electric cars but should also allow the sale of vehicles running on biofuels as well as other traditional sources.
The pushback failed and the E.U. moved ahead with the crackdown in March even as Meloni said it was “not reasonable” to ban new combustion engines.
Now Meloni is trying a different tack in an effort to support Italy’s nearly 270,000 direct or indirect employees in the automotive sector, which accounted for 5.2 percent of GDP in 2022.
The European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) has warned switching to all electric cars could lead to more than 60,000 job losses in Italy by 2035 for automobile suppliers alone.
AFP reports the Italian government this week shifted its fight to directly oppose the planned “Euro 7” standards on pollutants, joining seven other E.U. member states — including France and Poland — to demand Brussels scrap the new limits.
“Italy is showing the way, our positions are more and more widely shared,” said Enterprise Minister Adolfo Urso, a fervent defender of national industry in the face of what he has called an “ideological vision” of climate change.
The E.U. plan “is clearly wrong and not even useful from an environmental point of view,” added Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, of the League party which shares power with Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, the AFP report set out.
U.S. automotive workers have already expressed their dismay at the push to totally dump internal combustion engines in the name of green ideology.
Drivers in Italy appear to agree given the paucity of infrastructure available to support electric vehicles.
The country has just 36,000 electric charging stations, compared to 90,000 for the Netherlands, a country a fraction of the size of Italy.
“There is no enthusiasm for electric cars in Italy,” Felipe Munoz, an analyst with the automotive data company Jato Dynamics, told AFP. “The offer is meagre, with just one model manufactured by national carmaker Fiat.”
Electric cars charge at a hub in downtown Milan on March 23, 2023. Italy has just has just 36,000 electric charging stations, compared to 90,000 for the Netherlands, a country a fraction of the size. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)
For its part, legendary Italian car maker Ferrari has no intention of phasing out combustion engines and going fully electric or hybrid anytime soon.
As Breitbart News reported, it has already promised to keep making the eight and 12-cylinder engines it has made its trademark at least until the end of the 2030s.
The chief of the Italian manufacturer, Benedetto Vigna, told the BBC in an interview it would be “arrogant” to dictate to customers what they can buy while at the same time walking away from the company’s heritage.
Ferrari instead wants to honor its history of high performance cars using traditional methods of propulsion.
Benedetto Vigna, chief executive officer of Ferrari NV, said “I don’t want to be arrogant and impose a choice on our client,” as he explained why the legendary manufacturer will continue making models driven by internal combustion engines over “green” alternatives. (Francesca Volpi/Bloomberg via Getty)
Vigna pointed to this decision as a sign that technology was evolving, and denied doing so would undermine the company’s environmental credentials.
“I don’t want to be arrogant and impose a choice on our client,” he said.
“It is the client who must choose if they want an ICE (internal combustion engine), a hybrid or an electric car.”
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