Raise your hand if you still believe in the environmental measures of the European Commission. Parliament opened in 2019, when the surge in seats in Fridays for the future led by Greta Thunberg, is coming to an end, and many of the measures put in place by the executive led by Ursula von der Leyen as part of the ambitious Green Deal have been watered down or called into question. The climate has changed. Not the atmospheric one, which continues to bring an increasing series of abnormal events and natural disasters to all latitudes, and promises irreparable damage to air, water and ecosystems. But the social and political yes, at least in part. First the pandemic, then the wars at the gates of Europe changed the agenda, bringing the most immediate economic and energy concerns to the center of the attention of citizen-voters. Until the recent “rebellion” of farmers in many countries (also) against the efforts required of them to limit harmful emissions from the sector. Criticisms and doubts are often exploited – or even distort reality – by right-wing parties seeking consensus for the next European elections. Yet even on the opposing side, some are not at all convinced by some of the key measures developed by the EU in recent years. Like Romano Prodi.
A gift right?
Last night, the former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission herself bluntly expressed his criticism of von der Leyen's Green Deal. It is not so paradoxical that it will end up making the right triumph in Europe, Corrado Formigli asked him dryly on A sweep? “If it is applied without common sense, yes,” the professor replies without hesitation. In which way? “The problem is that every policy has to be implemented appropriately,” he explained, referring to his experience as von der Leyen's illustrious predecessor. “I have devoted a lot of energy to the environment, since the Kyoto Protocol, but the idea of concentrating everything on a single technology (electric, ed), or that within a few years we will no longer be able to produce internal combustion cars, I find that absolutely false.” With the risk, adds Prodi, of provoking the opposite reaction to that desired among citizen-voters: rejection environmental policies. The former Prime Minister then criticized the ambitious green program of the (outgoing) Commission, also from a more global point of view: “Environmental policies cannot be only Italian or only European, we are together responsible for 7 to 8% of pollution. It is therefore good if we want to be a “training ship”, but be careful, we cannot go beyond our possibilities”, criticizes “additionally” the professor at towards von der Leyen. Which, since she launched her reappointment at the head of the European Commission, seems to be the daily target of criticism from all sides.
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