Political pushback is holding back Brussels’ green agenda

The EU is forced to delay parts of its green agenda as it faces political headwinds ahead of next June’s European elections.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told reporters on Monday that the bloc needs to assess its ability to absorb the slew of new laws in the pipeline, including in the area of ​​the EU’s climate agenda.

However, he insisted he had made “extraordinary progress” with his Green Deal legislation, which includes dozens of proposals covering all aspects of the economy and is designed to push the European Union achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Von der Leyen was speaking after French President Emmanuel Macron called during a speech in Paris last week for a “regulatory break” on EU green law to allow industry to digest the large amount of recently passed regulation.

With European elections looming in early June 2024, EU lawmakers are facing increasingly difficult political terrain and time constraints as they seek to enact far-reaching legislation aimed at addressing climate change and protect Europe’s natural environment.

The conservative European People’s Party, the largest in the European Parliament, has in recent weeks initiatives rejected on restoring degraded land and seabeds; and reducing pesticide use in response to the backlash from farmers. Manfred Weber, the leader of the group, said on Monday that he welcomed Von der Leyen’s decision “to reflect on the scope and speed of this process. If the climate wins and the rest of society loses, we will not reach net zero.”

A number of proposals from Brussels, including measures on methane emissions and packaging waste, still need to be approved by parliament and member states.

Many of the proposals, including efforts to make existing EU buildings climate-neutral and to phase out the internal combustion engine, sparked heated debates among the bloc’s 27 member states. Citing March’s buildings directive, Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said the EU’s growing environmental push risks “damaging our economic fabric”.

Other proposals regarding microplastics and improving soil quality that have yet to be publicly announced by the Commission could be delayed when Brussels updates its policy agenda this month, according to three people familiar with the plans.

An EU official said some of the potential delays were due to the complexity of the regulations, which would govern technical areas of climate law such as the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in the earth.

The committee said work on the Green Deal law was “ongoing” and it was up to parliament and member states to “continue the work”.

Farmers in particular have rebelled against several measures, claiming they would reduce yields and incomes. Industries also rejected the required level of compliance, arguing they were becoming uncompetitive in the global marketplace.

“We call it the tsunami of legislative proposals because that’s what it feels like,” said Malte Lohan, director general of Orgalim, the trade body for Europe’s manufacturing sector. “On balance, what the commission did. . . it has not helped the competitiveness of the industry”.

However, some commissioners and political parties are resisting pressure to scale back the environmental agenda.

Pascal Canfin, a French liberal who chairs the parliament’s environment committee, said the ability to absorb the legislation was not at issue, but the “political will” to get it through was. The EPP, von der Leyen’s political group, “was radicalizing itself on an anti-Green Deal position,” he said.

Canfin said Macron supporters were “very surprised” by his call for a “regulatory break”, but that the French president was concerned about funding the climate transition.

Mohammed Chahim, Dutch Socialist MEP, said: “We will not support any delays. We want to deliver the Green Deal within this time frame”. He added: “Shelving [proposals] it will not help our economy become more competitive, improve conditions for farmers or help nature. . . The cost of doing nothing shouldn’t be underestimated.

Additional reporting by Ian Johnston