EU MPs Agree to Force ‘Insane’ Green Building Rules on Member States

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda delivers a speech during the debate "This is Europe"
FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images
Peter Caddle

The European Parliament has passed a resolution that will see “insane” green building rules forced onto individual EU member states.

MPs in the European Parliament have agreed to a rework of its Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) that would mandate the renovation of various buildings should they be seen as not up to scratch.

The measure will also reportedly see fossil fuel heating systems completely banned throughout the bloc by as early as 2035.

According to a report by Euractiv, internal resistance to the green agenda rework was not enough from preventing it from passing a vote by the EU parliament, with 343 members voting in favour, compared to the 216 who voted against.

Its passing was celebrated by hard left-Irish progressive Ciarán Cuffe, with the member of Ireland’s floundering Green Party being central in pushing the hardline rework through parliament.

“Next up: final talks with EU Member States & Commission,” he wrote online, describing the measure as aimed at “tackling 36 per cent of EU emissions”.

Opponents of the measure have described it as being an overly bureaucratic measure that unjustifiably takes power away from individual nation-states.

“Increasingly rampant, gluttonous and unrestrained, the EU is encroaching on the competences of the member states,” Markus Buchheit, an Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP, said in a statement to Breitbart Europe describing the new rules as “insane”.

“The European Commission is acting as a stupid ideas committee thinking up the most expensive, heavy imposing and difficult regulations to land on the different peoples of Europe,” he added. “The cost imposed on ordinary workers for retrofitting their normal buildings would be prohibitive and is another reason to oppose this very silly idea.”

The AfD are far from the only group staunchly opposed to the EU’s newly proposed building regulations, with members of other political groups in Europe also coming out to condemn the bill.

Politicians from Italy in particular have seemingly shown the most resistance to the new measures, with the Italian Infrastructure and Transport minister and Lega party leader Matteo Salvini describing it as being a “European choice against Italy“.

“We will oppose it, in the name of common sense and realism, as a government but above all as Italians,” he declared back in January, describing private housing — which will be significantly impacted by the measure should it become law– as being a “precious good” and “the fruit of a life of sacrifice”.

Another Italian representative, Senate Vice-President Maurizio Gasparri, declared that his country would never support “the EU’s brainless visions”, adding that the measure must be “sent back” to the bloc seemingly until it is changed in a way to make it favourable to Italy.

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