“Assault” renewables, in Sardinia there are those who think of “tax disobedience”
The mayor of Villanovaforru, Maurizio Onnis, launched the provocation: "We must challenge the State, in this match the Region is destined to succumb"
CAGLIARI – Tax protest against the Italian state, to relaunch Sardinia’s battle against the “assault” of multinationals that produce energy from renewable sources. It is the idea of Maurizio Onnis, mayor of Villanovaforru, who has been at the forefront of the battle against energy speculation on the island for years.
“A year ago, in Bauladu, during the meeting which led to the birth of the Coordination of Committees against Speculation, I said this: ‘Sooner or later we will be forced to opt for a more effective form of civil disobedience than a simple street demonstration’ – explains Onnis– I already proposed to think about fiscal disobedience. How far to go on this path depends on the compromise that each of us is willing to accept.”
“We have three main games on the table – recalls Onnis -. Where to put shovels and panels, how many to put and what comes to Sardinia in compensation. And the three games are linked. No mayor, questioned in front of the citizens, will be crazy enough to declare his territory suitable for large wind or photovoltaic plants without receiving a substantial return.” And the regulation of compensations, recalls the mayor, “is still anchored to a ministerial decree of 2010: compensations are not mandatory, cannot be paid in money and, if necessary, cannot exceed 3% of the proceeds deriving from the plant himself. Therefore, an alms.” If this mechanism is not modified, “and the modification can only come from a confrontation with the State, not even the most willing mayors – and there are some – will dare to challenge the population”.
No map of the areas suitable for Onnis makes sense “if we don’t know how much power needs to be installed. Whether those 6.2 gigawatts are really necessary, or whether Sardinia needs double or even more, can only be established by a decent regional energy plan. And in fact , with the moratorium law, the Region gives itself 18 months to update it, much more than the 180 days within which the map of suitable areas must be drawn”. A timing discrepancy, warns the mayor, which is a weakness, “and which will have to be remedied in some way, evidently by accelerating the Pears review, otherwise we will produce a map of suitable areas that is botched up, out of scale and probably not relevant to the actual needs of the island”.
So the jab at the Todde council: “Not even in my wildest dreams do I see a regional government capable of extracting a truly satisfactory agreement for Sardinia from the State. Simply because the State cannot afford to back down across the board.” Here for Onnis it is a question of deciding “if we want to keep ourselves pure, asking the Region for the Moon, risking political irrelevance but reserving the privilege of shouting afterwards: ‘We told you so!’. Or if we want to follow step by step the regional government, influencing it when possible and obtaining something, risking collateralism and finally settling for a solution that will certainly not be ideal”. we have at home on Tuesday, the spectacle of regional councilors voting in the chamber against their own territory caused a scandal and will not be forgotten“.