The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Green Deal, Maroš Šefčovič, spoke on Monday 1 July at the opening of the Jacques Delors Agora event, which is bringing together 150 experts and young Europeans in Lisbon (Portugal) until 4 July to discuss the EU’s priorities for the next 5 years. Mr Šefčovič reiterated the importance of their commitment to the future of the European Union, particularly with regard to climate issues.
He reiterated that “there is no alternative, no Plan B” in the face of the current climate and biodiversity crises, and stressed the need for a fair and just transition, saying that “social justice must be a key part”.
The European Solar Academy, launched in June (see EUROPE 13437/18), which aims to train 100,000 workers across the photovoltaic solar panel production chain over the next 3 years, was presented as a concrete example of this ambition. Mr Šefčovič stressed the importance of giving “Europeans, and especially young people, access to the skills needed for the jobs of the economy of tomorrow”.
To ensure the success of this transition, Maroš Šefčovič advocated maintaining the competitiveness of European businesses while minimising costs. He spoke of the importance of clean transition dialogues, which bring together entire value chains to unlock investment. Energy prices have been identified as one of the major issues affecting European competitiveness.
Maroš Šefčovič also addressed the issue of financing, calling on companies to limit their carbon footprint while maintaining a requirement for social equity, and proposed rewarding these approaches by including sustainability criteria in public procurement contracts. The Commission’s Executive Vice-President called as well for the completion of the Capital Markets Union and increased joint purchases of critical raw materials and green hydrogen.
In addition, Maroš Šefčovič reaffirmed the importance of a collective approach and called on young people to continue to get involved and cooperate in building a sustainable and prosperous Europe, stressing that while “you have the most to lose”, you also have “the most to gain; from a successful transformation of our economies and societies, from cleaner air, and from healthier nature”.
To see the speech: https://aeur.eu/f/cx2 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)