MEP Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgian) decided not to put the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), for which he is rapporteur, to the vote at the last meeting of the legislature of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) on Thursday 18 April.
“It is clear that after all these years of negotiations there is still no clear majority for the compromises and I don’t want to jeopardise the fate of the file in the future”, he explained in a press release on Friday 12 April. “If voting means risking higher taxes and saying no to nuclear energy, then I would rather not vote at all”, he continued.
According to the rapporteur, during the year-long negotiations, the Socialists and Greens/EFA refused to compromise on the transition period for the aviation and maritime sectors and on the role and future of nuclear energy (see EUROPE 12952/16), despite the fact that Parliament had expressed its support for nuclear energy in previous votes.
“Reducing our carbon footprint through electrification, while keeping our energy supply stable and prices low enough for our businesses and citizens, won’t work without nuclear energy. It was therefore essential to have it in the text”, said Mr Van Overtveldt.
He is therefore leaving it to the next Parliament to “decide the fate of this dossier”. The Council of the EU is also debating the text (see EUROPE 13379/18). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)