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Loft conversion of an old building in Berlin
Photo: Lothar Ferstl/dpa
In the current negotiations on the EU Buildings Directive, the EU Commission is apparently insisting on an obligation to renovate millions of properties. This is stated in the internal minutes of a working session at the EU Council. Accordingly, the Commission continues to envisage a "worst first" approach: poorly insulated buildings should be the first to be modernised.
The Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW) is sounding the alarm in view of the considerations: The Commission's plans would require investments of 130 billion euros per year, which is unbearable from the point of view of tenants, owners and landlords. "In the run-up to the 2024 European elections, this is like playing with fire," reads a letter from the association to Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), which SPIEGEL has obtained.
As recently as October, the EU institutions, including the Commission, had agreed to abandon individual restructuring obligations. The federal government had also ruled out "mandatory renovations for individual residential buildings". Instead, they wanted to leave it up to the nation states to decide how to achieve their climate goals in the building sector. The aim is to develop procedures in which entire villages or districts are evaluated. In the case of a "neighbourhood approach" with well-insulated new buildings, old buildings, for example, would not have to be renovated for the time being.
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