On Tuesday it became clear that the federal level and the states will not agree on the division of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow. Ecolo puts it into perspective, other French-speaking parties are angry. ‘A painful failure for Belgium.’
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Normally, the various ministers of the federal states would consult on Tuesday afternoon about the distribution of the climate efforts that Belgium must make within the framework of the European ‘Fit for 55’ program. The meeting has now been postponed to later this week.
Philippe Henry: ‘Deep gap between ambitions’
“The technical discussions are continuing with the aim of reaching a strong political agreement under the Walloon presidency this year,” said Walloon Climate Minister Philippe Henry. According to the Ecolo minister, the different positions are still too far apart. Belgium must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 47 percent by 2030. The Flemish Climate Plan, which was presented last week, aims for a 40 percent reduction.
Henry, who chairs the inter-federal commission, notes that ‘despite the efforts made, it is impossible to reach a sufficiently ambitious inter-federal agreement in the short term’. “Despite some progress, there is still too much of a gap between the ambitions of the various parties,” said the minister.
According to co-chair Rajae Maouane, the main thing is that a good agreement is reached in the end. An agreement “that respects the commitments, that is ambitious in terms of climate and is balanced, so that the other regions do not pay for Flanders’ lack of ambition,” Maouane responded in Glasgow.
Paul Magnette: ‘Failure of the Belgian climate agreement is a disgrace’
The French-speaking Greens, who also supply the competent ministers at the federal level and in Brussels, have no problem with the lack of an interfederal climate agreement. Other parties meanwhile do not spare their criticism.
