BRSSEL/STRASSBURG (dpa-AFX) – After the voting debacle last week, Christian Democratic, Liberal and Social Democratic MEPs have agreed on a compromise on important climate protection laws. Among other things, the agreement provides that the free allocation of certificates for CO2 emissions will gradually expire from 2027 and disappear completely from 2032, as the parliamentary groups announced on Wednesday.
On Wednesday last week, a majority in Parliament surprisingly spoke out against another compromise, which made new negotiations necessary. “The compromise that was rejected last week would have provided for an end between 2028 and 2034,” emphasized Tiemo Wlken, climate policy spokesman for the Social Democratic Group in the EU Parliament.
His CDU colleague Peter Liese praised the compromise because it also provides for a slower start of CO2 tariffs. If this tariff does not work as expected, there will also continue to be free pollution certificates, said Christian Ehler, a member of the CDU. Liese emphasized that he was confident that there would be a large majority in favor of the project in the decisive vote next week in the European Parliament. Positive signals also came from Greens. “The new deal is the minimum standard under climate protection, which we support, but is not the end of the road,” said MP Michael Bloss.
The reform of EU emissions trading, the heart of European climate policy, failed seven days ago. A majority of MPs rejected a planned extension of the system to buildings and traffic on Wednesday. The ETS expansion is also expected to be up for voting again next week. Because of last week’s rejection, important votes on a CO2 tariff at the EU’s external borders were also postponed, as these projects are closely related. In emissions trading, parts of industry or electricity producers currently have to pay for the emissions of climate-damaging gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2).
“It was worth it that we pulled the emergency brake in the plenum last week and were able to negotiate a better compromise as a result,” said SPD politician Delara Burkhardt. The various factions had accused each other of being to blame for the failure of the compromise./mjm/DP/nas