Cars and incentives, it can be done but on condition that the regime is targeted and, above all, truly controlled. Because there is car and car. A clarification comes from the European Commission for governments determined to support mobility that is respectful of the environment, health, and in line with twelve-star policies on sustainability. It is Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market and industry who indicates the way forward. “Incentives for fleet renewal towards zero-emission vehicles and charging infrastructure or for retrofitting older vehicles play an important role in accelerating the reduction of pollutant emissions,” he acknowledges. But, he underlines, “provided they are well targeted on older and more polluting vehicles and not linked to the purchase of a new car”.
The “euro” categories of four-wheelers, the classification by year of production and registration will have to be taken into account. A scale that goes from 0 to 6, and to which a level of CO2 emissions corresponds. The lower the «euro» category, the more polluting it is. The specification offered by Breton implies that favoring the purchase of a “Euro 6” vehicle to replace a “Euro 2 or 3” one is better and more useful than buying a Euro 6 car today with another Euro 6 car, category that includes cars registered starting from 2015.
Incentives always and in any case therefore “no”, it is not a policy that in Brussels is considered acceptable or sustainable. And which calls into question governments, such as the Italian one, committed to implementing the recovery plans financed by the Recovery Fund. Because, continues the Commissioner, the development and financing of car change incentives are the responsibility of individual Member States, “subject to compliance with state aid rules and other fund-specific requirements, such as the principle of “doing no significant harm” under the Recovery and Resilience Facility”.
At the EU level, there is a willingness to “finance the renewal of the public transport fleet”, but we must be careful with private vehicles. There is therefore the risk, in the event of a generalized incentive, of incurring infringement procedures or even stopping the disbursement of EU funds made available by the recovery mechanism and the Recovery Fund that finances it.