European Environment Ministers are pinning their hopes on the Finnish Presidency, which will begin contributing to raising the EU's climate ambition. At their meeting on Wednesday 26 June in Luxembourg, Ministers were assured that climate is one of the incoming Presidency’s major priorities.
Most delegations expressed disappointment that the European Council failed to set a date of 2050 in Brussels last week as the timescale for climate neutrality in the EU because of opposition from four countries - Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Estonia (see EUROPE 12279/2).
“The Finnish Presidency will begin in a few days' time. We will continue the work. We all know it is very important. We all understand that business as usual cannot go on. We need more ambition, more work. For Finland the climate is one of the top priorities, in our home work as well as in our work as Presidency. We have the science. We know what is needed. Now we need more accent, more ambition to match this”, said Finnish Environment and Climate Minister Krista Mikkonnen when she arrived at the Council of the EU. Her country is aiming to be climate-neutral by 2035.
The incoming Finnish Presidency stated on its Twitter account, that “strengthening the EU's position as a global leader in climate action” is one of its four priorities (see the other article in this newsletter).
The informal meeting of the Environment Council in Helsinki on 11 July should help to reach agreement on the line of communication to be adopted on the European vision, ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September.
Polish Minister Slowomir Mazurek explained to his colleagues that it was important for his country to know which were the means envisaged for achieving the target before it would join the cause.
The outgoing Romanian Presidency and Commissioner Vella stressed that substantial progress had been made under the Romanian Presidency, with the number of Member State delegations in favour of climate neutrality increasing from four in January 2019 to twenty-four in June.
Neither Miguel Arias Cañete, the European Commissioner for Climate Action, nor the French Minister attended this meeting of the Environment Council. France was represented by its Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)