In her speech to the EU Parliament, current EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recommitted herself to climate protection and climate-friendly industry. When it came to nature conservation, however, he limited himself only to vague promises.
Von der Leyen’s speech on his re-election as President of the European Commission began in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg this morning (July 18) shortly after nine o’clock. However, the results of the voting will not be known until this evening.
Her speech was based on a text accompanying her “political guidelines”.
Climate and environment
Von der Leyen reiterated the EU’s climate targets, including a yet-to-be-agreed 90 percent reduction target for 2040.
She framed this expressly in terms of economic competitiveness. The policy guidelines say that Europe is in a global race “to decide who will be the first to be climate neutral and the first to develop the technologies that will shape the global economy in the coming years.”
In his speech, however, von der Leyen also emphasized that climate protection is about “intergenerational justice”. Young people “would never forgive us if we let go of this challenge.”
Von der Leyen said she would “reward farmers for cooperating with nature and preserving our biodiversity and natural ecosystems”.
In her speech, von der Leyen explicitly linked agricultural interests to the effects of climate change. She referred to the “changing face of Europe’s rural landscape” and said her proposed “climate adaptation plan” would be developed “together with farmers”.
In recent years, European industry has come to believe that climate action is in their own interest. With this speech, she may hope to initiate a similar change in the agricultural sector.
Otherwise, there was positive rhetoric on the environment in von der Leyen’s speech and guidelines but few concrete promises. Their guidance simply stated that the commission would provide “clarity” on the regulation of PFAS chemicals, also known as “perpetual chemicals”.
Specifically, von der Leyen is proposing a circular economy law. This would monetize waste products, such as critical raw materials, to create incentives for more recycling.
The climate-friendly industry is still underfunded
As expected, von der Leyen focused heavily on promoting European industry. She explicitly linked decarbonisation efforts to the continent’s economic competitiveness.
She promised a “Clean Industrial Market” within her first 100 days in office.
The funds for this would come from an “industrial decarbonisation accelerator”. This would direct investments into energy-intensive infrastructure and industries. In addition, a competitive fund would facilitate investments in a wider range of strategic technologies, including clean technologies.
In her speech, she said the accelerator would also accelerate the approval and bidding of energy projects.
However, it remains unclear how much funding will be available and where it will come from. Their document says that the competition fund should be proposed as part of the negotiations on the next EU budget, which will run from 2028 to 2035. Elsewhere in the text it is said that the EU will need more sources of its own income .
Energy policy – you stick to it
On energy security, von der Leyen promised she had not “forgotten how Putin blackmailed us” by restricting gas imports in 2022. To applause from the plenary, von der Leyen promised to end the dependence of the Europe on “Russia’s dirty fossil fuels” “once and for all.”
Particular attention was paid to renewable energy in her speech. She repeatedly referred to them as “clean and domestic,” in contrast to her statements about Russian fossil fuels.
Both von der Leyen’s speech and the policy guidelines emphasized the need to reduce energy prices. However, no details were given on how this will be achieved.
Von der Leyen did not address the controversial ban on internal combustion engines in 2035 in her speech. In her opening words, however, she referred to “technological neutrality”, which her CDU/CSU MEPs should be happy about.
Your political guidelines are about the ban. However, the text only refers to an already agreed compromise, which would allow cars with combustion engines to continue to be sold if they run on e-fuels.
Full attention to the vote
The leaders of the political groups of the EU Parliament then spoke to respond to von der Leyen’s speech. Reactions from the four major central parties – the Liberals, the Greens, the Social Democrats and von der Leyen’s own conservative party – were mostly positive, but not without criticism.
The groups will now meet separately to decide what they intend to do before the evening vote.
[Bearbeitet von Alice Taylor/Kjeld Neubert]