9
Oct
2024
Watch
Ensuring sustainable, decent and affordable housing in Europe - encouraging investment, private property and public housing programmes (debate)
Mr President! We have just heard from the Commissioner and several from the left that they want to tighten up the Buildings Directive, forcing citizens to renovate their homes with energy. Danish Niels Fuglsang from the Social Democrats said back in June that people just have to pay what it costs. It's like it's an insignificant grip in your pocket. But such an investment is not just a grip in the pocket of ordinary citizens. In fact, the renovations in question will cost an average of EUR 40 000 per dwelling. In Denmark alone, it will affect 400 000 families. It is a cost that will force many to go from house to home because they cannot afford the renovation and cannot borrow money from the bank, as these homes are most often located in areas where the banks will not lend money. This is a completely unfair and very wrong way to treat our citizens. It is not because I do not think that we should focus on the green transition, and of course we should make ourselves independent of oil and gas from rogue states in the Middle East and from Russia, but in a way that we do not ruin and destroy the lives of many millions of citizens of the European Union.