Proposals to guide the EU towards meeting its 2030 emissions targets will be re-discussed by parliamentary committees. The EP should negotiate their final form with the Member States during the Czech Presidency in the second half of the year.
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MEPs voted on a revised proposal pushed by the strongest center-right faction of the European People’s Party, who wanted lighter rules on heating and transport emissions than the commission had proposed. Proponents of a slowdown in the transition to a clean economy argued that Brussels’ plan, which was presented last year, did not yet take into account the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine or long-unprecedented inflation.
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However, the Socialists, the Greens and smaller parliamentary factions insisted on stricter commitments and successfully voted against the People’s Party. It was supported by only 265 of the 639 voting deputies. The reform of the emissions market will thus be discussed again by the legislators in the Environment Committee.
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It is also linked to proposals to create a fund to compensate particularly vulnerable households for the expected increase in heat prices, or to introduce a fee for the import of non-organic products into the EU. Therefore, MEPs immediately postponed the vote on both of these standards. On the other hand, they approved changes to the aviation emissions trading system.
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Peter Liese, Parliament’s chief negotiator on carbon market reform, called on his colleagues to try again in committees to agree on a proposal that would gain support.
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“Everyone who voted against today can think about it again. Please don’t kill the emissions trading system, “he said.
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Among other things, a vote on whether to completely ban the production of cars with internal combustion engines from 2035 awaits them in the second early evening block.
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