In the European Parliament, the far right seizes the coordination of a key text on climate
It's a role that could give them even more votes to denounce "punitive ecology" and the European Commission's methods, which they have been vigorously attacking since their ranks were strengthened during the last elections in 2024. The far right in the European Parliament obtained, on Tuesday, July 8, the coordination of a key text for the climate ambitions of the European Union (EU).
The Patriots group, built around the National Rally and Hungarian Viktor Orban's Fidesz, the third largest in the European Parliament, has thrown its weight behind winning the position of rapporteur for the climate reform law, which is to set a target for greenhouse gas reductions by 2040. Chaired by French MEP Jordan Bardella, the group has not yet specified which of its members will hold this position.
On the merits, the rapporteur from the Patriots will not be able to prevent the other groups from agreeing on the final content of the law. But the European far right, by occupying this position, could be tempted to delay or electrify the negotiations.
A “choice as irresponsible as it is cynical”By way of an amendment, the European Commission proposed, at the beginning of July, to maintain the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% within fifteen years, but with "flexibilities" in the method of calculation, in the face of reluctance from certain countries.
"The European Union is shooting itself in the foot," French Green MEP Marie Toussaint told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding: "We strongly denounce this choice, which is as irresponsible as it is cynical: the climate cannot be negotiated with the gravediggers of ecology."
Jordan Bardella has been targeting environmental laws adopted by the EU for several months, deeming them "punitive" and "bureaucratic." In January, he called for the immediate suspension of the Green Deal, adopted during the previous term and whose objective is to achieve carbon neutrality in the European Union by 2050.
The far right's challenge to these texts also aims to build alternative majorities with the right in the European Parliament. The distribution of votes between groups is done through a points system, based on each group's political weight.
A few days ago, another group classified as far right but better integrated into the European game, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR, group of the Italian post-fascists Fratelli d'Italia of Giorgia Meloni), obtained a report on immigration dedicated to "safe countries of origin" , whose nationals would have limited possibilities of asylum in Europe.
For the climate law, the allocation of the rapporteur position to the Patriots "will force pro-European groups to collaborate to bring this key proposal to fruition before COP30 [UN climate conference] in Belém in November in Brazil," hopes centrist MEP Pascal Canfin.
The World with AFP
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