Institutions agree on REPowerEU: Important step to tackle three major crises
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Up to 300 billion euros to become independent from Russian energy imports and push down prices / Ambitious climate protection target will not be touched
“This is an important step in jointly tackling the three most important crises of the last weeks and months," said Peter Liese on the occasion of the agreement reached between Parliament and Member States on REPowerEU on Wednesday morning. "It is imperative that we become independent from Russian energy imports. Since the outbreak of the war, we have paid over 120 billion euros for energy supplies to Russia. That is significantly more than the Russian military budget accounted for last year. At the same time, we urgently need to ensure that citizens and industry are relieved of high energy costs. But all this must not be at the expense of climate protection. Our 2030 targets are in place. I am very pleased that we have succeeded in reaching this agreement."
Read more: Institutions agree on REPowerEU: Important step to tackle three major crises
Council plunders Innovation Fund
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Unacceptable in times where jobs are threatened und United States supports carbon neutral industry
“The proposal of the European Council for REPowerEU and the ETS is completely unacceptable because it empties the Innovation Fund exactly in a time when we need more support for industry to create futureproof jobs.” This statement came from Peter Liese, environmental spokesperson of the biggest group in the European Parliament and Rapporteur for the ETS and for the related part in REPowerEU from ENVI side.
The two legislative files will come in the final state of negotiations both next week on Tuesday, 13 December (RPEU) and Friday, 16 & 17 December (ETS). “If one adds the Council’s mandate on both files, the Innovation Fund that should support industry on the way to decarbonize and create futureproof jobs in a changing world will be reduced from 930 million allowances according to the Commission proposal to 412.5 million allowances. This is even less than in the existing ETS and this is unacceptable in a time when industry has a lot of challenges and we still ask them to achieve very ambitious climate targets and at the same time the US office with their IRA provides a huge support in particular for those companies that commit to the path of climate neutrality. That’s why we have to fight hard.
Parliament and member states agree on carbon cap-and-trade mechanism CBAM
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Good that we will continue to protect industry from carbon leakage / Controlled management at EU level / Implementation speed to be decided in ETS trilogue on Friday or Saturday / Do not leave export-strong companies alone
Early Tuesday morning, the EU institutions agreed on the design of the carbon cap and trade mechanism CBAM. "With this, we have created an instrument that signals to the world: Whoever wants to sell their products on the European market must pay more attention to the climate from now on. This applies to steel, aluminum, fertilizer, cement, electricity and additionally now also to hydrogen. Pre- and post-products as well as indirect emissions are also to be monitored in some sectors. I support a number of points that have been agreed so far, including the fact that we do not want to leave the control and implementation of the CO2 price for EU imports entirely to the member states. It is important that the EU keeps an eye on the harmonic application of the mechanism in the member states so that we avoid a situation where imports continue to take place without CO2 pricing in the country that has the weakest controls," explained Peter Liese, environmental spokesman for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats).
Read more: Parliament and member states agree on carbon cap-and-trade mechanism CBAM
Massive problems in the supply of medical devices, for instance for cardiac catheters for children
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Lives of pediatric patients are at risk and rapid action is needed / Environment and Health Committee letter to the Commissioner / Council of Health Ministers meeting on Friday
"The lives of many patients, especially children, are in danger. In consequence, the European Commission must now act very urgently," demanded CDU MEP Peter Liese on the occasion of the meeting of European Health Ministers on Friday and the increasing supply shortages of medical devices such as cardiac catheters for children.
Liese, who used to work in a children's hospital, reported, "My colleagues, especially from pediatric cardiology and pediatric surgery, warn that many products are already in short supply and that they can no longer treat children according to the latest medical standards. For them, every day counts. After my letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides many months ago, the Environment and Health Committee as a whole has now joined me and composed a text to the Commission. Although the European Commission has some ideas on how to tackle the problem, it does not yet want to present a concrete legislative proposal but wants to first discuss it with the health ministers. I find this unacceptable. This proposal must be put forward as soon as possible. I will then work to ensure that a proposal with a real solution to the problem is quickly adopted in the European Parliament."