Pyrrhus victory for left and the rapporteur but tight decision / Parliament will go for lower figure / Broad agreement on climate neutrality

Today the environmental committee in the European Parliament has voted on the climate law. The most contradicting decision dealt with the 2030 target. The result of the vote was tight and the majority within the ENVI committee voted for a 2030 reduction target of 60%. „This is a Pyrrhus victory for the left and for the rapporteur Jytte Guteland. The result in ENVI was very tight and as far as I know, also the S&D Group was also not united”, says MEP Peter Liese, environmental spokesperson of the largest Group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats).

“I am sure the Parliament will go for a lower figure. We will watch carefully the impact assessment of the European Commission. Personally, I am in favour of supporting the 55% if the impact assessment that will be published next Wednesday is convincing. Definitely, we need to look at the measures. We are strongly against too much command and control but in favour of market-based measures. The national target cannot just be increased by 15%”, insisted Liese. “It is good that the Parliament is united for the target of climate neutrality. We are also united that we have to increase the 2030 target. But to declare targets without having a plan how to achieve them does not help the climate”, concludes Liese.