© Reuters
Wonka Hoekstra
Dnevnik Express
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The candidate for EU climate change policy commissioner has promised to remove subsidies for coal and other fossil fuels if the European Parliament approves him for the post.
The former foreign minister of the Netherlands, Wopke Hoekstra, was questioned about competence and professional suitability before four parliamentary committees on Monday evening. The final vote is scheduled for October 5 after the current Dutch commissioner, Frans Timmermans, quit to head a left-wing party for early elections in his home country in November.
Von der Leyen will propose the Dutch foreign minister as EU commissioner
Hoekstra promised tougher action to remove fossil fuel subsidies, including phasing out the 52 billion euros that EU countries spend to support the production of mainly coal and gas each year, Reuters reported.
He said he would do everything he could to get politicians to listen to scientists who are calling for at least a 90% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and promised, if elected, to present an analysis to adopt a first legally binding greenhouse gas reduction target as early as 2024, the EU set itself the goal of achieving a carbon-neutral economy by mid-century.
“I will use all available tools to enable the EU to achieve the minimum recommended target of 90% net reduction,” Hoekstra said during a difficult hearing with many pointed questions to the candidate.
The Netherlands loses ground with the nomination of its former foreign minister, as he will not succeed Timmermans as senior vice-president of the European Commission, and the Green Deal, for which he was in charge, has been transferred to vice-president Maros Šefčovič.
Instead of coordinating all green policies, now the Dutch European Commissioner, if he gets a “yes” from the parliament, will be responsible until November 1, 2024, only for the climate.
It is believed to be a gesture by Ursula von der Leyen to the Socialists, as Hoekstra is an EPP nominee and his entry into the European Commission will change the balance between the political parties in it.
Green and left-wing MEPs are skeptical of The Hague’s choice because Hoekstra has no experience in climate policies. Before taking over Dutch diplomacy in Mark Rutte’s fourth government, he was finance minister for five years. The MEPs did not fail to emphasize that before entering politics, the future EU climate commissioner, who is a lawyer by education, worked for “Shell” and the consulting company “Mackenzie”.
But Reuters reports lawmakers are unlikely to reject it, in part because it could mean the EU does not have a new climate policy chief at the COP28 UN climate summit in November.
2023-10-02 19:41:15
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