In a media interview on Wednesday 1 June, MEP Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), the European Parliament’s co-rapporteur on the regulation establishing the EU taxonomy, stressed that he expected an extremely close vote on the proposed objection to the draft delegated act to include nuclear energy and fossil gas in the taxonomy as ‘transitional’ activities.
According to his forecasts, almost all MEPs from the left-wing groups (S&D, Greens/EFA and The Left) are expected to support the objection tabled by MEPs from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups (see EUROPE 12957/20).
They should be joined by part of the Renew Europe group (no more than a third of the members, according to him), as well as by some EPP MEPs. The vote of EPP members will thus be decisive, according to Eickhout.
His colleague Michael Bloss (Germany) is confident that the objection will be approved in the Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) (vote scheduled for 14-16 June), as this requires a simple majority (more votes in favour than against), whereas a rejection of the delegated act in plenary requires an absolute majority (at least 353 votes in favour). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)