When the plenary session opens in Strasbourg on Monday, 25 November, MEPs will debate both the “environment and climate emergency” and COP25 on climate, before adopting two separate resolutions on Thursday, 28 November: one relating to the environment and climate emergency in Europe, and the other relating to the European Parliament’s position ahead of the UN conference (taking place in Madrid between 2-13 December).
This decision was made by the Conference of Presidents of the political groups on Thursday, 21 November. Initially, all that was planned was a debate with representatives of the European Commission and the Council of the EU to discuss what the two institutions intend to do to ensure that COP25 is a success. There was just one resolution on the agenda, following the ambitious vote taken by the European Parliament Environment Committee (see EUROPE 12365/16, 12364/23).
This decision did not take into account the importance that the political groups had placed on this pivotal moment. Ahead of both COP25 and the vote (on 27 November) to approve the von der Leyen Commission, which intends making the Green Deal a priority, over the past few days the Greens-EFA, S&D and Renew Europe groups have been competing to claim responsibility for introducing this major initiative, without knowing whether the Conference of Presidents would endorse the idea of having a second resolution.
One debate, two resolutions, and rivalries. According to one source, “a real battle” was being waged. The lead was taken at a forum in September by the French Green MEPs Karima Delli and Damien Carême and again on the evening of 19 November when they announced in a statement that their group had “requested that a debate and a resolution to declare a state of climate emergency be added” to the agenda.
On Thursday, Delli announced with delight on Twitter that “we’ve won: next week, the European Parliament will vote on our plan to declare a state of climate emergency in Europe”.
The day after the vote in the Environment Committee, the S&D group had announced that it would be tabling a similar amendment (see EUROPE 12365/16).
In fact, they were all caught off guard by the message Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe) put on social media. On Wednesday, 20 November, he announced that his group would “be presenting a text next week declaring a state of environment and climate emergency in Europe and setting out the action that needs to go alongside it”. He added that: “We need to send a message to Europeans, to the European institutions and also to the rest of the world that Europe wants to become the first continent to declare an environment and climate emergency”.
According to Delli, “the European Parliament must not only declare a state of climate emergency, but must agree above all on a series of ambitious targets and concrete measures to limit global warming to below 1.5°. We expect coherence and therefore consistent commitments from the European Parliament. Especially by raising the EU's climate target to 65% by 2030, overhauling the CAP to make it compatible with our climate and biodiversity targets”. The statement released by the Green MEPs also emphasises the need to tax kerosene, finally end investment in fossil fuel projects, and support workers.
“The climate emergency needs to be translated into action. Words are no longer enough”, added Carême, stating that “the EU should aim for climate neutrality by 2040”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)