European politics sometimes offers scenes of high political tension not suitable for sensitive hearts, such as those that occurred yesterday in Strasbourg, where the Environment Committee of the European Parliament had to pronounce on one of the proposals most controversial of the end of the legislature, a regulation that the European People’s Party (EPP) and the extreme right have proposed to overturn with the aim of slowing down the European green agenda.
Despite the fact that they do not give up on the objective, they did not achieve it yesterday. The motion presented by the EPP to ask the European Commission to withdraw the initiative did not obtain the majority that the conservative bloc aspired to. With emotion running high until the last minute, the vote ended in a tie, 44 to 44, so that under the rules of the House, it was immediately dismissed
Joy erupted in the room, full of activists, when the result was seen. The voting, one by one, of all the amendments presented made it impossible for the procedure to conclude and the parliamentary committee will meet again on June 27 to vote on the pending corrections. The European proposal sets, from 2030, binding objectives for the recovery of habitats and species whose situation has been degraded by human activity and climate change. While the European agricultural employers oppose the law (they think it threatens food security and will slow down renewables), the scientific community supports it without cracks.
The alliance between the social democratic group, the United European Left, the greens and the liberals has allowed, for the time being, to save the content of the text, against which the members of the EPP, Conservatives and Reformists and representatives of far-right parties have voted . “Despite the intense boycott campaign of the PPE, we have managed to save the law”, tweeted the speaker of the text, César Luena (PSOE). His colleague Esther de Lange (PPE) highlighted, on the other hand, the lack of a majority in favor of the proposal. “The fisheries and agriculture commissions have already rejected it, will Frans Timmermans get the message?”, author of the plan, tweeted the representative of the Netherlands, where the fight for the future of the green agenda has become an issue of first order in national politics.
The text agreed on June 27 already represents a reduction in ambitions compared to the Commission’s original proposal and will again be subject to amendments at the July plenary. The issue promises to be one of the central issues of the 2024 European elections.
