After about 15 hours of intense negotiations, the EU27 Environment Ministers finally reached a negotiating position of the EU Council (‘general approach’) on five dossiers of the climate legislation package (‘Fit for 55’ package) falling under their prerogatives, on Wednesday 29 June, at about 2 in the morning.
“We have reached historic agreements with our colleagues that mark a further acceleration of the ecological and energy transition on a European scale”, said the French Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, welcoming the “spirit of compromise and responsibility” of her counterparts.
The general approach concerns: (1) three texts on the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), including the creation of a new carbon market for greenhouse gas emissions from heating of buildings and road transport (ETS2 or ETS BRT); (2) the introduction of a ‘Social Climate Fund’ to compensate for the potential negative socio-economic effects of the ETS2, in particular for the most vulnerable households (3) the revision of CO2 emission standards for new cars and vans; (4) the revision of the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) between Member States; (5) the revision of the Regulation on land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).
“Difficult” and “complicated” negotiations
Stressing the close links between the five texts, Ms Pannier-Runacher had clearly stated the ambitions of the French Presidency of the EU Council at the start of the meeting on Tuesday 28 June at around 9.50 am.
‘Either we reach a historic agreement on the five dossiers, or there is no agreement” she had warned.
It must be said that France was particularly keen to conclude a general approach on each of the five texts, two days before handing over the torch of the rotating Presidency of the EU Council to the Czech Republic (the Czech Presidency begins on the 1 July). The Czech Presidency will therefore have the task of leading the negotiations with the European Parliament (‘trilogues’) which has established its position on these dossiers in recent weeks (see EUROPE 12977/10, 12977/11, 12968/20, 12967/3, 12967/4, 12967/5).
At the evening press conference at the end of the ministerial meeting, the minister and the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, both acknowledged the complexity and difficulty of the negotiations between the Member States.
Ministers appeared particularly divided on the Social Climate Fund (SCF) and the revision of the ETS (see EUROPE 12981/1), forcing the Presidency to propose last-minute amendments. These changes included the financing of the SCF, the abolition of free emission allowances, but also the text on CO2 emission standards for new cars and vans (see other news).
At around 2 am, six Member States (Poland, Malta, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Belgium) said they wanted to take the floor again to express their continuing concerns about the latest drafts of the SCF and ETS2 texts.
“We are particularly concerned about the social impact of some of the measures that have not been properly addressed”, said the Polish Under-Secretary of State, Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński, while his delegation submitted a statement to the EU Council outlining their main criticisms.
In a counter statement, the Finnish minister said: “While we agree with the need to address any negative effects of the ETS2 on the most vulnerable, we do remain critical of the size and support of direct incomes in the SCF”. Together with Denmark and Sweden, Helsinki submitted a joint statement on the SCF to the EU Council (see other news).
Malta, on the other hand, submitted a statement on the fund and one on the ETS2.
While it is therefore clear that the general approach to all five texts was not unanimous, it is difficult to know precisely which Member States form the qualified majority in favour of the agreement, as ministers do not take a formal vote in this type of procedure.
According to our information, Poland and Latvia voted against the general approach. Belgium declared that it would abstain on the ESR, ETS2 and SCF dossiers.
See Poland’s statement: https://aeur.eu/f/2eg
See the statement from Malta on the ETS2: https://aeur.eu/f/2ef (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)