On Friday 30 September, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent Member States a four-column document to prepare for the second round of interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’), scheduled for 11 October, on the revision of the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR).
The Presidency notes several points of convergence: - increasing the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target for the sectors covered by the ESR to 40% by 2030; - Member States’ national contributions, expressed as percentages; - the scope of the regulation; - the flexibility related to the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Regulation (LULUCF).
It is also prepared to be flexible in agreeing with the Parliament on common language on the conditions for using the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) flexibility (see EUROPE 13011/10).
On the other hand, there are a number of points on which the Presidency “proposes to maintain firmly the Council’s general approach and limit discussions at this stage to further explanation and clarification of positions”.
These include the trajectory of the 2030 target, the level of flexibilities and the additional reserve proposed by the Commission and removed in the Parliament’s text (see EUROPE 12968/20).
Prague also proposes not accepting the European Parliament’s amendments that provide for the extension of the ESR beyond 2030, those setting specific targets for non-CO2 emissions and those dealing with access to justice.
See the four-column document: https://aeur.eu/f/3df (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)