On Friday 26 February, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent the Member States new compromise proposals on the ‘Climate Law’, with a view to the fourth session of interinstitutional negotiations ('trilogue') scheduled for 12 March.
Obtained by EUROPE, these proposals concern the points of the ‘Climate Law’ on which the Presidency held exploratory discussions with the European Parliament during the third trilogue (see EUROPE 12649/10), namely the creation of a ‘European Climate Change Council’ (ECCC – see EUROPE 12568/6), the establishment of an EU ‘greenhouse gas (GHG) budget’ and the definition of sectoral roadmaps towards climate neutrality.
The very sensitive issues of the climate neutrality objective for 2050 and the climate objective for 2030 have therefore not yet been addressed at this stage (see EUROPE 12614/15).
Regarding the Parliament’s idea to create a new European scientific body on climate change, the Presidency suggests instead setting up “a network of independent scientific experts” to assist the European Environment Agency (EEA) in its work on climate change. According to our information, this would be a kind of networking of the national agencies competent in this area.
Lisbon hopes this will be a response to the fears of some Member States that the creation of an ECCC would lead to duplicating or weakening the work of existing bodies such as the EEA as well as the “questions about issues such as governance or budgetary impacts related to such a complex proposal”.
Regarding the establishment of an EU GHG budget, an idea that does not generate much enthusiasm among Member States nor on the side of the European Commission, the Presidency suggests asking the Commission to calculate an indicative budget associated with the relevant EU legislation implementing the climate objectives set for 2030, 2040 and 2050.
“The budget would therefore provide additional information and transparency with regard to the EU’s climate targets once the relevant implementing legislation has been adopted”, the Portuguese paper says.
Finally, on sectoral roadmaps, Lisbon proposes “to link the concepts of sectoral roadmaps and partnerships to the process of public participation [in the ‘Climate Law’] in such a manner that they remain voluntary and indicative”.
In concrete terms, the different sectors of the economy, supported by the Commission, would simply be “encouraged” to establish sectoral partnerships to develop indicative EU-wide roadmaps for achieving the climate neutrality target by 2050.
While these compromise proposals will be discussed on 3 March by the ambassadors of the Member States to the EU (Coreper), they “represent a significant step towards the Parliament”, says the Portuguese document. And the Presidency added, “they are conditional on the Parliament also demonstrating a willingness to compromise and show flexibility”.
See the compromise proposals: http://bit.ly/2MDi0Ti (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)