Climate is one of the two urgent issues on the agenda of the next European Council (12 and 13 December). The debate held by MEPs on this subject on Tuesday 26 November showed that climate ambition and the EU's future budget (MFF) 2021-2027 are closely linked.
Most MEPs hope that an agreement will finally be reached on the EU's climate neutrality by 2050, with measures to ensure a just transition. But there are nuances between the most ambitious, which require drastic measures in the short and medium term, and the centre-right MEPs, who call for realism. The Conservatives criticise “hysteria”, climate sceptics, an “ideological” discourse.
“The European Council will try to obtain a commitment on the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 and to identify the framework for achieving this objective”, said Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen (see EUROPE 12372/6).
Since June, the Finnish Presidency has “worked hard, together with the Member States and the Commission” on the conditions, incentives and framework to be put in place to ensure a socially just transition to a climate-neutral EU and to finalise the guidelines before the end of the year (see EUROPE 12279/2). Poland and Hungary have yet to be convinced.
According to Mrs Tuppurainen, “taking into account national, regional and socio-economic specificities will be reflected in the negotiation box” of the draft MFF.
On behalf of the Commission, Frans Timmermans said that “Europe can and must go further” than its target of a reduction of at least 40% of its emissions by 2030 and that the EU must be climate neutral by 2050. “Our strategy must be a signal to the other parties to the Paris Agreement”, he said. He added: “the transition will be made in Europe”, in keeping with social cohesion and solidarity between Member States and generations. According to him, it is a duty of responsibility towards future generations and listening to citizens, but also a means of creating employment.
“We must respect Greta Thunberg, but we must also understand that people cannot pay for gas, that they lose their jobs in coal-mining regions”, said Manfred Weber (EPP, Germany), calling for “realism”. Paulo Rangel (EPP, Portugal) wanted “a policy for people, for companies, for the common good”. According to Esteban Gonzalez Pons (EPP), “climate protection and the social market economy must go hand in hand”.
Eero Heinäluoma (S&D, Finland) hoped that “the European Council's guidelines will reflect the requirement of climate neutrality by 2050 and that funding” in the future MFF “will be adequate”.
According to Dacian Ciolos (Renew Europe, Romania) “the budget is the translation of political ambition” and “the meaning of the Green Deal is to combine economy and environment”. Charles Goerens (RE, Luxembourg) recalled that after Brexit, the EU will only contribute 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. “The threat is global. Our response must also be”, he said, advocating “relying on climate diplomacy” to get China and India (50% of global emissions) to do more.
“No country has submitted a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or measures to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. We have to shift into a new gear and not wait for others to act”, replied Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany). Her group calls on the EU to raise its 2030 target to at least 65% and on the European Parliament to “not only declare a state of climatic emergency”, as it could do on Thursday, but to “respond appropriately”.
“On Friday, young people will go back to the streets to say: let's change the system, not the climate. I will be with them to express our willingness to live”, said Manon Aubry (GUE/NGL, France). She calls for a radical change in production and consumption patterns, a reorientation of the CAP, the responsibility of companies that deforest and the end of free trade agreements.
Jérôme Rivière (ID) criticised “the dogma of the all-electric without thinking about the plundering of rare earths”, the fact of opposing “young and old”, the contradiction between climate neutrality and free trade agreements, “if we do not include the cost of carbon in imported products”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)