“For this week, I expect the approval of two adapted vaccines against the omicron subvariant of COVID-19”, said the health policy spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP Christian Democrats), Dr. Peter Liese, on Wednesday in a video conference with journalists. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency (CHMP) will discuss the two marketing authorization applications from Moderna and BioNTech starting Thursday morning. The committee is expected to give a positive recommendation before the end of Thursday.
Formal approval by the European Commission will occur either on Thursday evening or on Friday. Both companies have submitted comprehensive data, including through clinical trials, to prove the superior efficacy of the adaptions in comparison with prior vaccines. If approved, the companies will be able to supply the adapted vaccines within the next few days. Moderna will provide the EU with 70 million vaccine doses in the first two months, with eight to eleven million of those being available as early as the first week of September. Germany is scheduled to receive 4 million Moderna doses in the first two weeks after approval. BioNTech-Pfizer is expected to surpass the Moderna deliveries, as they plan to deliver up to 29 million vaccine doses in September to Germany alone. 10 million of those will already be available in the first two weeks after approval.
"Today's plenary decision is good for the climate and good for jobs. I am very relieved and glad that a large majority is now living up to its responsibility," commented the European Parliament's rapporteur, EPP MEP Dr. Peter Liese, on his colleagues' approval of the biggest climate protection law ever in plenary. "With this decision, we are making it legally binding that we save more CO2 in the next 8 years than in the last 30 years. That means we have to achieve at least 4 times as much emissions reductions per year. The ETS is the centerpiece of the Fit for 55 package: we are creating a reduction of 1.5 billion tons of CO2 with it, or 1,500 million . The controversial decision on CO2 cars will only bring 60 million by 2030 ."
The decisive factor for the large approval was an agreement between the three largest groups (Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and the liberal Renew Group) on the timetable for the introduction of the border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and the phase out of free certificates for the affected industries such as steel, cement and chemicals. The agreement foresees that the reduction of free allowances and the start of CBAM will not begin until 2027. This is two years later than envisaged by the Environment Committee and one year later than proposed by the Commission. The start is also supposed to be very soft and cautious with only 7% burden for products from third countries and 7% less free allocation in the EU. Then, however, things are to move very quickly, with the mechanism taking full effect in 2032. That is three years earlier than envisaged by the Commission. "For us as EPP it is important that the new border adjustment mechanism is first carefully prepared and works really well before the free allowances are cancelled. The introduction of the mechanism is a mammoth project. It must first work technically and, above all, we need acceptance in the third countries. None of this can be taken for granted. If the free certificates are hastily reduced and disappear altogether without CBAM working properly, this could lead to massive job losses. If it works then, it can also be introduced completely quickly," Liese said.
Read more: European Parliament adopts largest climate change bill ever
European Parliament, Council of Ministers and European Commission will kick-start the trilogue on the revision of the emissions trading system on Monday at 12h45. “We want to send a strong signal that we don’t waste any time. I do not expect any decision at today’s first trilogue yet, but it is important to start the preparation at technical level as soon as possible and to prepare the important political decisions in the next months, definitely before the end of the Czech Presidency. To mitigate climate change, we need urgent action and all stakeholders including industry need clarity as soon as possible. It is very important that all the three institutions are aligned when it comes to the principal decisions of the revision. After many years of discussion, all three institutions agree that maritime industry needs to be included in the ETS applying not only to intra-European trips but also trips to and from third countries. It is very important that ships, that often burn very harmful fuels, will become cleaner and maritime has the opportunity to be a really clean and efficient industry. It is also agreed that we need a significant increase of ambition to align the ETS that is currently fit for achieving 40% target in 2030 to the climate law which demands us to go for at least 55%. Council and Parliament also agree on some elements for the protection of jobs, for example, a continuation of realistic calculations of benchmarks for the steel industry and it is very important that all the three institutions in principle agree on the ETS II for heating and road transport,” insisted Liese.
Read more: European Parliament, Council and Commission start Trilogue on Emission Trading System
Fair compromise for still very high climate protection and sustainable jobs
Last night, Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals agreed on a new compromise on emissions trading. Peter Liese (EPP, Christian Democrats), environment and climate policy spokesman for the EPP Group and rapporteur on emissions trading for the European Parliament, said: "I am very relieved and very satisfied. This is a fair compromise for the EU's most important climate protection instrument. Parliament's climate protection ambitions remain very high. The new emissions trading scheme will quadruple the EU's climate protection ambitions each year, while at the same time protecting against deindustrialization and safeguarding and creating future-oriented jobs. This is a clear improvement over the original proposal of the Environment Committee."
Read more: Emissions trading reform: EPP, S&D and Renew agree on new compromise