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Disagreements in the European Parliament. Will the Green Deal slow down?

Disagreements in the European Parliament. Will the Green Deal slow down?
photo: European Parliament / European Parliament/Disagreements in the European Parliament. Will the Green Deal slow down?
03 / 07 / 2022

There is disagreement in the European Parliament over the climate package proposed by the European Commission. It concerns charging for emissions from heating buildings and also transport. The vote on other standards in the package, such as the introduction of a carbon tax and the creation of a social climate fund, has also been postponed.

Parliamentary committees will renegotiate the 2030 emission targets and the European Parliament is expected to discuss their final form in the second half of this year, during the Czech Presidency. The new, more moderate proposal was brought by the centre-right faction of the European People's Party, which defended its proposal by arguing that Brussels' plan from last year did not take into account current developments. In particular, the crisis in Ukraine and rising inflation worldwide. However, only 259 of the 639 MEPs supported it, outvoted by the Greens and the Socialists, together with the smaller factions in favour of stricter commitments. Emissions market reform will therefore go back to the environment committee.

Another proposal that did not pass was the creation of a fund to compensate households at risk from rising energy prices. Similarly, the introduction of a levy on imports of non-organically produced products into the European Union has also failed. However, the proposal for changes to emissions trading for air transport did pass. There are voices within Parliament calling for the emissions trading system not to be completely scrapped.

However, there is one thing that MEPs have agreed on, and that is a ban on the production of vehicles with internal combustion engines after 2035. It should help achieve the 2050 climate target. Full electromobility awaits us in the future, and a suitable infrastructure of charging stations will need to be built in the Czech Republic in the coming years. And this is a big task for the Ministry of Transport.

Rail transport, which is considered by the European Union to be the only sustainable mode of transport, should continue to be centrally supported as one of the key instruments of the Green Deal.

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