Laurence Tubiana, Director General of the European Climate Foundation (ECF), expressed her disappointment on Friday 10 May at the lack of climate ambition of the Sibiu Declaration adopted the day before by the Twenty-Seven EU leaders (see EUROPE 12251/1).
“I read the Declaration and it's a little disappointing. Even though my expectations were low, it surprised me to see the modesty, if I may express it like that, or the humility perhaps, in the fight against climate change that was discussed at this summit”, she lamented, during a press conference in Brussels. According to her, this summit is a “missed opportunity”.
In her view, this demonstrates the continuing dissonance between, on the one hand, calls for ambitious measures to combat climate change from civil society, particularly young people, and, on the other hand, discussions between Member States that do not sufficiently meet these requests.
Ms Tubiana also noted the differences between Member States, regretting that alongside a group of more progressive countries in this area - the 'Coalition of the most ambitious' (see EUROPE 12250/2) - others continue to 'drag their feet', particularly Germany.
In addition, although she welcomed the progress made over the past five years, the ECF Director considered that, when looking at the dynamics of the European institutions, it must be said that the EU Council has never been at the forefront of environmental issues. According to her, it is the European Parliament that “pushes” the most for the EU to take a real global leadership position on environmental issues, while “the dynamics in the Council are at a standstill”.
Ms Tubiana explains this in particular by the fact that, as the elections approached, European political parties realised that climate change had become a major concern for many citizens and that it was therefore impossible for them to avoid this subject if they wanted to be elected. In her view, while the subject of migration has dominated the political agenda since 2015, the climate issue is now increasingly central.
Social justice. Asked about the Yellow Vest movement in France, she stressed the crucial importance of linking climate transition and social justice, pointing out that the carbon tax, if not offset, is a “very regressive tax from an income point of view”.
According to her, the Yellow Vests movement shows that “no one can imagine having a strong, fast and vigorous climate policy without putting social justice first”. And she specified: “The Yellow Vests are absolutely not an anti-environmental movement [...] Their main slogan was social justice”,
Finally, Ms Tubiana called on the European Council on 20 and 21 June to make real progress on climate change issues, convinced that, under pressure from young Germans, a change in Berlin's attitude might be hoped for. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)