Poland, Hungary threaten to derail EU plans to raise 2030 climate ambition
According to EURACTIV, Poland and Hungary could block efforts to strengthen the EU’s 2030 climate goal over a separate dispute on democratic standards. EURACTIV’s media partner, Climate Home News, reports.
EU leaders are expected to agree on cutting collective emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels, up from 40% currently, at a critical two-day Council meeting starting on Thursday (10 December).
Member states are under pressure to approve the new target ahead of a virtual climate ambition summit on Saturday (12 December), co-hosted by the UN, the UK and France to celebrate five years since the Paris Agreement was signed.
“The EU’s leadership and competitiveness are at stake,” said ManonDufour, head of think tank E3G’s office in Brussels, adding that EU Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen could not arrive empty-handed at the summit.
While the proposed climate target is relatively uncontroversial, it risks becoming a victim of heated negotiations over a €1.8 trillion financial package, which includes €750 billion in coronavirus recovery funds.
The European Commission has proposed making access to the funds conditional on respecting the EU’s rule of law principles.
The clause could cost Poland and Hungary billions of euros, with both countries accused of backsliding on democratic standards enshrined in the EU’s founding treaties, including on the independence of the judicial system, the media and other institutions.
They have threatened to veto the budget, which would hold up funds to support countries meet the enhanced 2030 climate target. This includes support for communities dependent on the fossil fuel industry to transition to new sectors of employment, which would benefit workers in both countries.
“It’s possible that if there is no deal on the rule of law, there is no deal on the climate target”, Dufour told Climate Home News.
In a joint declaration, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán said they respected common European values but that neither country “will accept any proposal that is deemed unacceptable by the other”.
Writing in EURACTIV, Morawiecki said the current proposal threatened “the future of the entire union” at “a time of great test for Europe”.
The absence of an EU announcement at Saturday’s ambition summit would dampen momentum for climate action and be deeply embarrassing for the union.
Both Von der Leyen and German chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds the EU Council’s rotating presidency, have made achieving a climate deal at the meeting a top priority. The increased 2030 target would put the EU on a credible path towards its 2050 climate neutrality goal and drive green investments for the next decade.
