Republic of Italy

Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea

Opinion regarding the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament
and of the Council on the reduction of national emissions of certain
atmospheric pollutants and amending Directive 2003/35/EC
When is about the reduction of the greenhouse gases, Italy has done some very significant positive
shift in the last twenty years. We managed to lower the level of greenhouse gases by 20% and at the
same time our economy grew in volume by 30%. These numbers prove that is possible to reconcile the
importance of making significate changes in our approach to the environment but at the same time to
ensure that the economy doesnt suffer in terms of increasing the costs of production.
In our view, this Proposal that we have on table generally is in line with our idea of a common
European policy for reduction of emissions of listed pollutants but there are some serious defects that
have the potential to discriminate some member states like Italy. These states, also called early
movers, who have already implemented ground-breaking legislations in order to reduce those
pollutants and whose legislation is far stricter than this one proposed by the Commission are requested
to lower the level of the named pollutants more than other states who have done little progress in this
area. In particular, the starting point for the planned reduction doesnt take into account the already
achieved and, when we are talking about Italy, overtaken goals set for the 2020. In addition, while
drafting this Proposal, the Commission also didnt take into account the reduced incidence of the
Italian agriculture in the production of polluting emissions.
To conclude, by this Proposal the Commission rewards the states who emits more and punishes the
ones who conducts revolutionary changes in this field. Italy has asked for a different, more balanced
proposal with criteria that fit with the reality. Now we will work with the other states to re-establish
the necessary balance.

Republic of Italy
Ministry of Interior
Opinion regarding the Proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the European
Border and Coast Guard

Our country has a lot of experience regarding the immigration topic but in the last ten years the
number of immigrants increased to around five million. Our major problem, as you know, is the
Mediterranean Sea by which thousands of desperate people reach our coast every year in seek of a
safer life. 2014 and 2015 were the worst years; only in these two years approximately 320 000 people
landed. This number is so big that it cannot be exceeded by the number of immigrants that reached
Italy by the Mediterranean route from 1998 till 2014. This year, till the present day, around 114 000
immigrants landed. By these numbers we can clearly see that the immigration flow for this year will
be similar to the previous two years and Italy cannot wait more. We show you this statistic just to let
you form a picture of how difficult has become for Italy to manage its southern borders. These borders
are also the external borders of the EU and of the Schengen area so it is our common duty to ensure
the safety of them and all other EU external borders in order to preserve one of our fundamental
freedoms within the EU, the freedom of movement. Even though it seems that the so-called Islamic
State is being gradually eradicated, the movement of people from the affected area is still present so
we can expect more refugees coming to us seeking protection. Also, there is the always present
problem of economic migrants. Considering all above, we need to act fast and we need to enact this
Proposal already by this year in order to preserve our Union and all of our freedoms. We believe that
our concerns are shared with the other member states so we urge the Council and the Parliament to
adopt this Proposal for the sake of the Schengen regime.