EU Commission representative Martin Selmayr does not give the lawsuit announced by Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) against the controversial green label for nuclear power plants a chance. He is certain that the so-called taxonomy “will be decided by a vast majority of member states,” said Selmayr in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna on Tuesday evening. Austria will probably complain to the ECJ. “Then Austria will lose the lawsuit.”
Selmayr emphasized that the EU Commission’s controversial proposal is by no means “greenwashing”. Finally, the taxonomy requires investments in nuclear power plants to be identified. The German diplomat argued that the member states are free to choose their energy sources and that nuclear power is undisputedly low in CO2. When the climate strategy was adopted, the EU states agreed to reduce CO2 emissions but not to phase out nuclear power.
In the rule of law conflict with Poland, Selmayr warned that the European Union would soon collapse. “Now we’re almost at the end of the road,” he said. There is “no European bailiff” who can force Poland to comply with EU law. “The anti-rule of law virus is more dangerous than the corona virus could ever have been.”
Selmayr pointed out that in two cases the right-wing conservative Polish government had refused to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and had been ordered to pay fines. But the EU has no way of collecting this money. “Now we can get by for a few more weeks,” with the EU Commission retaining and offsetting certain subsidies for Poland. But this conflict must be resolved in the course of the year, because “if judgments of the ECJ are no longer observed, then the European Union will fall apart. Then the European Union will end,” emphasized the German diplomat, who relied in particular on persuasion by the Polish friends States of the Visegrad Group hopes now that the Czech Republic has also got a pro-European government.
Selmayr sharply criticized those who “understand Russia” within the European Union, specifically naming Germany and Austria, where the arguments of Moscow are more likely to be heard than those of Kiev in the current conflict with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin will only be deterred by the threat of tough economic sanctions. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also assured the United States that Nord Stream 2 will be stopped if there is “just a millimeter” of Russian movement into Ukraine, Selmayr reported.
“We are in a very dangerous situation. That worries me just as much as the anti-rule of law virus,” said Selmayr. The conflict is also observed by China. “If the Western community doesn’t stop Putin, we will be left naked in the Taiwan conflict.” Global supply chains would then be at risk in the event of a conflict in the South China Sea. “If the worst scenario occurs, then our prosperity and our security will be over,” Selmayr said of a “fateful year” for the EU.
The close associate of the former EU Commission President drew a positive balance of the EU performance during the corona crisis. Unlike in the euro crisis, the EU states reacted quickly with the European development program, through the joint procurement of vaccines, the EU had become the world region with the highest vaccination coverage, even though, in contrast to the USA, for example, the rest of the provided vaccines to the world. “We are the continent that has exported the most to the rest of the world, around 1.4 billion vaccine doses.”
In this respect, Selmayr also clearly supported the obligation to vaccinate and described the Austrian regulation as a “legal masterpiece”. “What Austria is doing, a legal vaccination requirement, that’s exactly the right way,” he emphasized. On the other hand, he put Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP) – without naming her – in a row with Brexit Prime Minister David Cameron and his mendacious European policy, which led to the UK leaving the EU. Specifically, Selmayr called Köstinger’s initiative to protect small farmers against large supermarket chains. “Neither the German minister nor the Austrian minister say in a word that there has been a European guideline that prescribes this for two years,” said Selmayr, but Austria and Germany in particular refused to agree to it under pressure from the supermarket lobbies. “This is exactly how we are destroying Europe,” criticized Selmayr.