Salvini says no to compulsory-home-insurance idea

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 21 - Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said Saturday that he was opposed to the idea mooted by Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci of making it obligatory for households to take out insurance to cover their properties for damage caused by extreme weather events.
    After this week's devastating flooding in Emilia Romagna and Marche, Musumeci said that making house insurance obligatory was likely as the State cannot afford to keep compensating people for the impact of extreme-weather events, which are become more frequent and more intense because of the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.
    But League leader Salvini said that such a measure would not have his support.
    "The State can give recommendations, this applies to insurance too," Salvini said at an event staged by construction association Confedilizia in Piacenza.
    "It can give advice, but we do not live in a State that imposes things, where the State forbids or obliges us to do things".
    League MP Stefano Candiani also spoke out against the idea.
    "The state must incentivize citizens and businesses to take out insurance with tax deductions or concessions or whatever and, at the same time, it must continue to invest in making the territory safe," he told 'Affaritaliani.it'.
    "If it is just a matter of taking out insurance, it effectively becomes a tax in favour of the insurance companies and it is certainly not a proposal that can be agreed to and accepted".
    (ANSA).