A green, sustainable and carbon-neutral Europe that prioritises the European Green Deal, the transition to climate neutrality by 2050, climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation and protection of the marine environment: this is the ambition of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The Croatian Minister for Environmental Protection and Energy, Tomislav Ćorić, underlined this on Tuesday 21 January when he presented the work programme for the next 6 months (see EUROPE 12397/12) to the European Parliament’s Environment Committee.
“We want to keep the climate and the environment at the top of our priorities”, he said, referring to the severity of the climate and ecological crises.
“The 2019-2024 Strategic Agenda, the European Green Deal and the conclusions of the December European Council on climate neutrality by 2050 within the framework of the Paris Agreement will guide us”, he added.
Therefore, the Croatian Presidency will launch debates on the Green Deal in all EU Council configurations from January onwards, starting with Ecofin, Agriculture, Fisheries, Competitiveness and Youth and Education.
It also intends to launch debates on policy initiatives announced by the Commission - proposals which Mr Ćorić hopes “will show our spirit of transformation in areas that impact on biodiversity, climate and human health”.
The Minister shared the European Parliament’s view on the ‘European Green Deal’, which is a new growth strategy to transform the European Union into a fair and prosperous society (see EUROPE 12403/15).
“We want a competitive, environmentally friendly economy where economic growth is decoupled from resource use”, he said.
In particular, the Presidency intends to launch the debate and hopes for a vote in June on the climate law that will set the EU’s climate neutrality in stone. This proposed legislation is expected to be introduced by March.
To Peter Liese (EPP, Germany) and Alexander Vondra (ECR, Czech Republic), who asked him how to move forward when the impact assessment will not be available until the summer and in the absence of consensus in the European Council, Mr Ćorić replied, citing the unavoidable climate urgency.
“We're going to vote in June. Our ambition, following the presentation of the law, is to launch the discussion in all Council configurations and, in June, to make as much progress as possible. Environment ministers are aware of the importance of combating climate change and we have no alternative. I hope the debates will make that clear”, he said. Replying to Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France), he confirmed that a vote in June “would be the best outcome that could result from these discussions”.
Catherine Griset (ID, France) called for respect for the sovereignty of Member States. This argument was swept aside by the minister: “Pollution crosses borders and climate change affects the entire world. So sovereignty is not paramount”, he said, believing that “climate change must unite us”.
On the financing of the Green Deal, Mr Ćorić told MEPs that this was a matter for EU finance ministers, not environment ministers.
With regard to biodiversity, the Presidency is awaiting the EU’s proposal for an ambitious 2030 strategy to “integrate biodiversity into all economic activities”. The Croatian Minister welcomed the European Parliament’s recent call for binding targets at both European and international level (see EUROPE 12405/4). The Presidency will work on the preparation of the mandate for COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (Kunming). Pleading for an “ambitious but realistic” post-2020 framework, he said the EU should play a leading role, as it did for the Paris Agreement. Silvia Modig (GUE/NGL, Finland) said that urgency was just as important as ambition.
The Croatian Presidency is “ready to work on an 8th Environmental Action Programme (EAP) as soon as the Commission makes a proposal” (see EUROPE 12394/8). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)