European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will announce planned changes to the EU’s Green Deal in the coming weeks, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) MEP Peter Liese has told Brussels Signal.
Speaking with Head of News Justin Stares, Liese said he and his colleagues had been negotiating with the EC President and fellow CDU member in the hope of securing various changes to Europe’s “green” legislation, especially when it comes to the planned 2035 combustion-engine ban.
He also emphasised the need to remove certain bureaucratic elements from European Union’s green regulations, which he said were preventing the bloc from achieving its climate goals.
“We are in intensive talks with Ursula von der Leyen, both personally and with her team, on how to do this,” he said regarding the proposed changes.
“She already announced something in her speech before her election – and there will be very concrete proposals during the next weeks.”
Asked whether any sort of “watering down” of the Green Deal would be possible considering von der Leyen’s reliance on the EU’s Greens/EFA group, Liese said there were at least some MEPs within the faction that understood changes to the legislation needed to be made.
“At least some key players in the Greens group are realistic,” he said. “They understand that we cannot continue like we did the last five years, and their main concern was that the Green Deal would not be completely reverted [reversed].”
“And that, of course, is also not in my interest,” he added.
“There were some voices in the [European] Parliament, including in my group, that wanted to revert the Green Deal. This is not a majority position and definitely not my position, so we can definitely come together with the Greens, but I admit there is some work to be done.”
Liese did express concern that some Green MEPs were “still dreaming about even more burdensome” climate regulations being passed by the European Union despite their decline in backing in the EP elections in June.
“That, of course, we cannot support,” he said.
The full interview with Peter Liese MEP is available on the Brussels Signal website and YouTube channel.
Irish people could end up as climate migrants in Europe should global warming continue, the country’s climate minister has claimed. https://t.co/H6PceHIvtK
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