Six new procedures, one referral to the Court: EU tough on Italy and Meloni government

Brussels –Eight infringement procedures at once, six of which are new. With the election truce over, the European Commission is coming down hard on Italy and its government. The July package calls the Italian government to order on workers’ rights, air transport, the environment, and banking. It doesn’t change much whether it is incorrect, incomplete, or failure to transpose European regulations: Brussels does not seem to show leniency, instead opening five new files and advancing two already open ones. For one of these two, it triggers a referral to the Court, which means more concrete and closer risk of fines.

The executive is referring Italy to the Court over its failure to respect the rights mobile workers from other EU member states in relation to family benefits granted to them, which “constitutes discrimination and breaches EU law on social security coordination and on the free movement of workers,” Brussels says. The Meloni government has been given more to comply. The letter of formal notice was sent in February 2023, the reasoned opinion in November 2023. “Since Italy’s reply did not sufficiently address the Commission’s concerns,” legal action is now triggered.

The EU also advanced proceedings for non-compliance with the directive on credit servicers and credit purchasers, which, under the legislation, must be able to operate on a European Union scale while firmly safeguarding the rights of borrowers. Its transposition continues to be incomplete, and Brussels is proceeding further with the formal notice. If satisfactory responses are not offered within two months, Italy could again find itself before the Court.

Then, there is the chapter on new procedures. Two regard the collection, management, and disposal of waste: a structural problem for a country that, time after time, has paid hundreds of thousands of euros in fines imposed by the EU for the same reasons. Old ones may be joined by new ones, given the referrals to court for Italy’s all-Italian inability to manage wastewater. Today (July 25), the EU added a new procedure for failure to transpose the municipal waste recycling directive and sent a letter of formal notice for failure to transpose the directive aimed at reducing waste generation. In both cases, not much is being done. For the same reason, the EU opened a proceeding on rules for a performance and pricing system for air navigation services, a penalty system for those who do not comply with the rules of the Single European Sky, bank resolution, and recognition and granting of copyrights. In the latter case, “the Italian law on copyright and related rights is in breach of the freedom to provide services” as defined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union read in conjunction with the Collective Rights Management Directive.