Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 - Brussels

The European Green Deal (debate)

  Ryszard Antoni Legutko, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Mr President, Madam President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, three points. First, we meet here in exceptional circumstances. We are discussing the sweeping changes to our climate and energy goals brought forward by the European Commission no sooner than 10 days since taking up office and before our recent, existing climate agreements have been implemented. This is ambitious, but it is not prudent.

Point number two. In the ECR we had hoped the new Commission would be more cautious than the last one – that it would work with the Member States and within the Treaties. If you read the Treaty’s Article 15, it stated very clearly: it is the European Council who define the political direction of EU policies. And the European Council meets tomorrow to discuss: guess what? The EU’s long-term climate policy. So I ask myself: why are we here today? Is the Commission trying to seize the initiative, to take away power from the Member States? When we look back, we can see that in 2014 the European Council unanimously agreed the 2030 targets delivered with compromise after painstaking negotiations. And today’s headline goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 should have followed the same path, and Member State governments should not be sidelined on something this fundamental.

Point number three, Madam President. In recent months we have heard so much about the green wave sweeping Europe. But have you noticed that, when this wave reaches the Baltic and travels down the Danube, it is not even a ripple? Why? Because in Central and Eastern Europe we can see through it. We see a confused strategy that prompts more questions than it answers. Are the Commission’s new climate goals credible and achievable? And what will this do to our industries? You pictured some sort of a paradise – who wouldn’t like to live in a paradise? But will this convince millions of Europeans? How have the new Commission, in 10 days since taking office, been able to fully understand how dramatically our economies could change as a result of this Green Deal? Have you an idea of the social costs as well as personal tragedies it will generate?

Point number four, which I wanted to omit, but I will just indicate it briefly. It’s about gas. We see a completely confused strategy here. Gas is going to be an essential part of decarbonising in the coming years, and new legislation agreed recently prohibits future investment in gas. This is certainly confusing.

So to conclude, Madam President. How we move forward has to be credible and achievable, otherwise you can have all the talk and targets in the world, but they will count for nothing if you can’t actually meet them. And when you try to do it by force, the consequences might be disastrous.