MEPs on the Committee on International Trade rejected the draft opinion of Karin Karlsbro (Renew Europe, Sweden) on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on Monday 28 February by 20 votes to 19 with 3 abstentions. Earlier, however, they had approved all of the compromise amendments. EPP members finally took a stand against the full text, together with the European Conservatives and Reformists, and the Identity and Democracy Group. The two members of The Left abstained on the text.
The compromise amendments had struck a balance on some positions by adopting less stringent criteria. The report therefore no longer called for a “rapid” exit from free allocations of emission allowances under the Emissions Trading System (ETS), but only a gradual exit.
As for the full entry into force of the CBAM, the adoption of an amendment had made it possible to keep to the date of 2025 that the rapporteur had proposed (and to which the main rapporteur, Mohammed Chahim also agrees), i.e. one year earlier than the date planned by the European Commission. According to one source, this may be part of the reason why the EPP have finally taken this position against the text.
On the use of CBAM revenues to help the least developed countries, the criteria had also been watered down from the original criteria proposed by Karin Karlsbro (see EUROPE 12874/12).
This vote is reminiscent of the own-initiative report in March 2021 (see EUROPE 12675/8), where the EPP group changed its position at the last minute regarding the exit from free quotas and had an amendment voted to this end. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)