Housing crisis: the European Parliament voices doubts and criticisms regarding the new EU framework

Brussels – Right or left, it makes little difference. The Affordable housing bill adopted today (9 September) by the College of European Commissioners—which will be the subject of deliberations by the Parliament and the Council as part of the ordinary legislative procedure—has drawn almost exclusively criticism from the Italian Members of the European Parliament. 

The head of the Fratelli d’Italia delegation to the European Parliament, Carlo Fidanza, the ECR coordinator on the European Parliament’s HOUS Committee (the special committee tasked with examining the housing crisis and high rents in the European Union) and also Vice-President of the Parliament, Antonella Sberna, and MEP Dario Nesci, have reiterated in a statement that “the current approach curtails property rights, encroaches on the competences of Member States and pits regions against one another.” According to the three, “the Regulation measures housing pressure in a one-size-fits-all manner, without taking household incomes into account, meaning that entire regions of Italy will be classified as being in a state of emergency while others will not.” After describing the EU’s response as “ideological and based on bans,” the MEPs called on the Executive Vice-President for Competition, Teresa Ribera, and the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, “to change their approach and to engage in a genuine dialogue with the European Parliament.” 

Even for the more moderate right, today’s measures do not constitute an optimal solution. The deputy head of the Forza Italia delegation in the EPP Group and member of the HOUS Committee, Marco Falcone, emphasised that all the recommendations his group had called for, such as “increasing the housing supply, urban regeneration, the refurbishment of existing housing stock, synergy between public and private investment, and tax relief on housing investments, have not been adequately addressed.” Added to this is “a problem of method”: the two commissioners should have adhered to the mandate set out by Parliament in the “Housing report”, but they failed to do so. Like the Conservatives, Forza Italia urges the EU executive to “halt and withdraw, or radically rethink, the proposal” because “the housing crisis is tackled by increasing supply and investment, not by introducing new restrictions,” he concluded. 

Even on the other side of the ideological spectrum, the text is considered to be “disappointing and unforgivable.” The Five Star Movement MEP Gaetano Pedullà stated that “the only step forward in the face of a housing crisis threatening millions of citizens is the possible imposition of limits on tourist rentals in areas experiencing housing shortages.” By contrast, the Berlaymont has merely called on individual countries to take action, a response that risks “remaining on paper.” The proposal contains neither “concrete, swift, and effective measures to urge public authorities to build thousands of new properties at controlled prices and new social housing,” nor “effective shortcuts to cut down the unsustainable delays in bureaucratic authorisations; and, above all, there are no financial resources necessary to launch a major European plan to tackle the insecurity and fears of those who cannot access housing at market rates,” he observed. Furthermore, “there is no such obligation, as politicians “all too” sensitive to the interests of the private letting lobby and the American multinational Airbnb keep claiming,” he clarified. 

The only person who seems to be applauding is the Chair of the HOUS Committee in the European Parliament, Irene Tinagli (S&D). “For over a year, we have been calling on the Commission to take action by providing common criteria to determine when it is legitimate to intervene and impose restrictions without breaching the Services Directive,” she explained. For Tinagli, therefore, the Regulation does not “prohibit anything, but gives mayors and governors the tools to intervene, on the basis of certain indicators, when the situation is out of control, when house prices are now beyond the reach of citizens.” Now “the ball is in the court of national governments and local authorities: if they do not intend to take action, they will be held to account by their own citizens.” The EU “can no longer be used as an excuse to drag those governors and mayors who try to uphold citizens’ rights through the courts,” she commented.