The article is co-published with Energy and climate.
Ursula von der Leyen, 65 years old, will get another five years as president of the European Commission. The European Parliament gave her renewed confidence by 401 votes to 284. The way each parliamentarian voted is confidential.
The last time she was elected by a majority of nine votes. She had to have at least 361 for a majority.
The new Commission is unlikely to be ready until closer to Christmas.
In his program for the next five years she puts more emphasis on ensuring the competitiveness of the business world, than she makes new commitments in climate policy.
In her speech to parliament, she emphasized that the decisions made to ensure a 55 percent reduction in emissions compared to 1990 in 2030 must be implemented in the “simplest, fairest and most cost-effective way”.
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To support the industry
“Our full focus will be on supporting and creating the right conditions for companies to achieve our common goals. This means simplifying, investing in and accessing cheap, sustainable and secure supplies of energy and raw materials. That will prepare the way towards the 90 percent emission reduction target for 2040, which we will propose to confirm in our European climate law,” she writes in her program presented in the European Parliament.
The EU experts themselves have said that the EU countries emissions must be cut by at least 90 percent compared to 1990 in 2040, to achieve the goal of climate neutrality in 2050.
The formulations relating to the conditions for a 90 per cent reduction in emissions in 2040, ie It will be a political hot potato. Strong forces want this goal to depend on other countries to follow. In addition, that this would be done depending on not harming the competitiveness of the EU countries. Others want stricter wording, such as the cutoff being “at least 90 percent.”
In her speech, von der Leyen linked climate policy to a growth strategy.
– The EU must be decarbonised and industrialized at the same time, she said.
In his new Commission, all members will be tasked with reducing measures that slow down business and investment. This applies particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises. This must be coordinated by a separate vice-president of the Commission.
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Using market power
Von der Leyen repeated the Commission’s point, which is that the EU must use market power to secure important supplies. For more than a year, the purchase of the gas has been coordinated by the EU. von der Leyen will expand this to include hydrogen and critical raw materials. To achieve this, the Commission will work with new Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships. They will help ensure access to key raw materials, clean energy and emissions-cutting technologies.
According to the president-elect, the EU will continue to play a leading role in international climate negotiations.
She took a powerful stand with Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, who recently visited Russian President Vladimir Putin. She decided that this was not a journey of peace, but the result of an aggressive assailant.
The EU must now take responsibility for stronger coordination of the European defense industry. It should be noted that the Union’s foreign policy ambitions have increased and it takes on greater responsibility for security.
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Increase border control
Von der Leyen announces a significant strengthening of Europol and the EU border authority Frontex. Europol is to become a more credible police authority and, over time, to double its staff. Frontex is to triple the number of employees to 30,000.
This is a response to the concerns that were no less fuel for the progress of the far right parties in the elections in June. Among other things, there will be a special commissioner for the Mediterranean area.
But she also brought up another matter. Especially in the big cities of Europe, there is a growing housing problem. Housing policy has not been on the agenda of the EU until now. These problems create social unrest and help slow down the green transition in cities. Mayors in major European cities support the demand for the EU to be involved in housing policy.
– I would like to appoint a commissioner whose responsibility will be housing policy, among other things. In addition, create a European plan to create affordable housing, she said.
Now she will assemble her commission. Each country in the EU must send its candidates, who will then go through a hearing in the European Parliament. Therefore, the Christmas tree can be lit on the Grand Place in Brussels before the new EU Commission is implemented.
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