The Portuguese Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, stated repeatedly during an interview with the press on Thursday 7 January that he is confident that an agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the ‘Climate Law’ will be reached.
Despite differences between the positions of the two institutions (see EUROPE 12614/15), this is too important an issue for this proposal for a European regulation not to be approved under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU, which began on 1 January, Mr Fernandes said, who also called for compromise and responsibility.
As a demonstration of its importance, adopting the ‘Climate Law’ would be the dossier he would keep if he had to choose just one of the Presidency’s priorities in the area of climate and the environment, said the minister, expressing Lisbon’s determination to conclude this issue in March or April.
Questioned on the flexibility of Member States with regard to some of the Parliament’s proposals, he recalled that the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 is a collective objective, thus seeming to reject the possibility of applying it also to each Member State individually.
On the other hand, the Portuguese seemed open to the idea of creating a European scientific body on climate change (see EUROPE 12568/6) in order to “grant formal power to the scientists who first alerted us to the importance of combating climate change”.
He also stressed the importance of carbon sinks, in particular forests, in achieving the EU’s climate goals, stressing that climate neutrality does not mean zero emissions.
The role of these carbon sinks could be a bone of contention among legislators, as the EU Council and the European Commission seek a net reduction (including CO2 absorption) of at least 55% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, while MEPs advocate a ‘gross’ reduction of 60%.
Finally, it should be noted that the date for the third session of interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’), which began under the German Presidency (see EUROPE 12627/26), has not yet been set. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)