Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] The Green Deal has been a cornerstone of the European Commission’s political programme under the leadership of German former defence minister Ursula von der Leyen, whose mandate has one year to run. For many, progress made on the package of new climate, energy and environmental legislation will mark the success or failure of the outgoing EU executive – and time is fast running out to get some key laws over the line.
It survived the covid pandemic, with former vice-president Frans Timmermans rebuffing, sometimes angrily, calls from industry to freeze legislation on issues from plastic waste to pollution from cars. The then director of the green deal told the European Parliament’s environment committee in April 2020, at the height of the first lockdown, that it was an “illusion” to imagine a lasting economic recovery could be built on propping up polluting industries for whom the writing was already on the wall.
Then the energy crisis spurred by Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022 saw the EU double down on the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure, for example through emergency laws easing planning permission for wind farm deployment.
But the closing months of the von der Leyen commission’s five-year term have seen signs of a kind of green fatigue in Brussels, and an apparent determination in some quarters to make environment policy a dividing line in EU elections scheduled for 6-9 June. Recent months have seen the European People’s Party (EPP), in particular, push back against a number of remaining environment policy bills. A watered-down Nature Restoration Law, intended to reverse seemingly inexorable ecosystem destruction, only narrowly squeaked through parliament just shy of a year after the EU signed up to a UN Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of the world’s land and sea habitats.
This is the background against which Belgium, which assumed the rotating presidency of the EU Council this month, must forge compromises with European Parliament negotiators on a trio of climate and environment policy files. In practical terms, this means wrapping up the worst of the haggling and horse trading by the end of February. The concern is that failing to do so before the EU (and, incidentally, Belgium, which holds its own national and local elections at the same time) goes into full election campaign mode, could leave some of the Green Deal legislation at the mercy of a new crop of MEPs with different policy priorities.
The Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) gets off to a flying start today with its first major event, the traditional visit by the College of European Commissioners to the Belgian federal, regional and community ministers (Belgium has three levels of power), who will hold the presidency at formal and informal Council meetings during the first half of 2024.
This visit was an opportunity for European Commissioners and Belgian ministers to meet and coordinate their work programmes. Their discussions focused on the Belgian presidency's legislative priorities, the strategic agenda for 2024-2029 and the work programme of the European Commission.
The meeting took place at the Egmont Palace, where a large number of informal Council meetings will be held over the coming months. This prestigious building has been used for meetings and receptions by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years now.
This visit, however, was a special one because the five-year term of the current College of 27 Commissioners will come to an end during the Belgian presidency. After the European elections in June, a new team will be put in place. The same, for that matter, also applies to the Belgian ministers, since national and regional elections will be held in Belgium at the same time as the European elections, on 9 June.
The fact that the elections are approaching is also influencing the Belgian presidency in another way. "More than 150 legislative dossiers are still on the table. We have a few months, until mid-April, to finalise as many of them as possible," reiterated Alexander De Croo at the press conference to mark the launch of the Belgian presidency on 8 December.
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