In London, it has been decided that electric car owners will pay a special tax, in addition to their vehicle registration tax, to “pad the state coffers.” Electric vehicles, once a heavily subsidized product, are thus becoming a new tax cash cow. For Domenico De Rosa, this signals a harsh return to reality: first, families and businesses are pushed to switch cars “to save the planet,” then they are hit again with new taxes. The transition thus becomes a shell game, not a serious industrial strategy.

De Rosa has long warned of the risk of a veritable European “green suicide”: not because the goal of reducing emissions is wrong—it is a just cause—but because of how it is being pursued. Turning the battery-electric car into a totem, setting a magic date like 2035, and ignoring infrastructure, incomes, and the energy mix means weakening European industry and handing the market to producers outside the EU, who often operate under lower standards than ours.

At the heart of his position are two words: neutrality and technological freedom. The goal must be CO₂ avoided, not the technology of the moment. Next-generation internal combustion engines with low/no-carbon fuels, advanced hybrids, electric where it makes sense, hydrogen, biofuels for heavy-duty and maritime transport: the true transition is a competition among solutions, rewarded based on results, not slogans.

Il Cavaliere is asking policymakers for three very concrete things:

1. Deadlines that can be revised based on data regarding employment, infrastructure, and energy security—not political dogmas.
2. An end to the pendulum swing between incentives and heavy-handed measures: those who invest in “green” initiatives cannot live with fiscal uncertainty.
3. Competitiveness at the center: every mobility regulation must answer a simple question—does it make Europe stronger or more dependent on others?

Only in this way can the transition truly be sustainable: for the climate, for businesses, and for the people who must start their cars every day to live and work.