Latest news with #Liese
Reuters
07-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Key EU lawmaker says 90% emissions cut too ambitious for 2040 climate goal
BRUSSELS, April 7 (Reuters) - A European Union climate target to slash net emissions 90% by 2040 would be overly ambitious, and the bloc should consider lowering the goal for domestic industries, Peter Liese, a senior member of the European Parliament, told Reuters. Liese, a senior EU lawmaker in the influential European People's Party - the biggest lawmaker group in the European Parliament - said the group was still developing its position, but that he believed a 90% goal would overburden industries. "Many of us, in particular, in Council and Parliament, we see the 90% as very ambitious, I even would say over-ambitious," he said in an interview. "We really think when the 90% is implemented without any flexibility, then it will lead to de-industrialisation." The European Commission is drafting a proposal for the EU's 2040 climate target and is exploring softening its goal from a previous plan to cut EU emissions by 90% to win over skeptical governments and lawmakers concerned about the cost for businesses, Reuters reported earlier on Monday. Liese is the centre-right EPP group's most senior lawmaker on climate policies. The EPP holds 188 of 720 seats in the European Parliament, crucial to forming the parliamentary majority needed to approve the EU's 2040 climate goal. The EU's independent climate science advisers have recommended a 90% to 95% emissions-cutting goal as achievable. However, a topic that has shot up the EU's political agenda this year is helping European industries that are struggling amid cheaper imports and U.S. tariffs. An overall 90% target which sets a lower emissions-cutting target for domestic industries and allows countries to buy international carbon credits to make up the rest "could be a way out," Liese said. He said the EU would need to ensure these credits have high environmental benefits. Sources have told Reuters the Commission is looking into this option. CO2 credits have faced multiple scandals where credit-generating projects were found to not deliver the climate benefits they claimed. An 85% target would still be ambitious for 2040, Liese added. Socialist and Green lawmakers support a 90% target, while right-wing lawmaker groups including the European Conservatives and Reformists have opposed it.
Euronews
24-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
German election fallout, Newsletter
Key diary dates Wednesday 26 February – Commission to publish Action Plan for Affordable Energy and Clean Industrial Deal. Wednesday 26 February – Commission to publish 'omnibus' package to lighten reporting requirements for businesses. Thursday 27 February – College of Commissioners to visit India to launch negotiations for a strategic partnership. In spotlight This week's publication by the Commission of its 'omnibus' proposal – set to contain measures designed to clip back at onerous reporting obligations for business – will likely chime with Germany's new political landscape. European People's Party lead environment MEP - German lawmaker Peter Liese – last week dismissed calls from the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reconsider plans to reopen legislation requiring firms to ensure there is no environmental damage or abuse of human rights along their supply chains. Liese last week briefed reporters that he trusted that the omnibus 'will be a courageous proposal'. Despite the drive to free businesses of environmental obligations, Liese was adamant the EPP remained committed to EU climate goals, including a 55% emissions cut by 2030 compared to 1990, and net zero by the middle of the century. Speaking before heading to Germany to campaign for Friedrich Merz before the CDU general election win yesterday, Liese said Germany's next chancellor shared his commitment to climate action. He also said that Merz could be trusted not to work with the Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany party. 'I campaigned for him in his first campaign for the European Parliament in 1989, and really, you can trust that he will not work with the [far-right party] AfD,' Liese said. Aside from the omnibus proposal however the AfD's ability to stymie any coalition government created by Merz will be closely watched in Brussels. Merz wants to exclude German defence expenditure from the country's fiscal debt to push a significant bolstering of military hardware – a priority in view of Trump's detachment of the US from support for Ukraine and Europe. The fiscal measure Merz wants can be pushed through the Bundestag on a simple majority vote, but in order to make it a more permanent measure requires a constitutional fix requiring the support of two-thirds of the German parliament. Might the AfD attempt to stymie that once the new Bundestag comes into play after the end of March? The head of the AfD delegation in the European Parliament, René Aust, told Euronews in an exclusive interview on the eve of the election last week that the party would support any legislation it considers 'good for the people', regardless of who proposes it, and that 'we don't care if it comes from the Greens or from the left". Yesterday's election left the AfD with 152 seats in the Bundestag, while the leftist Die Linke party won 64 seats. Combined, both parties just top one-third of the chamber - enough to block Merz's attempt to kick start European defence strategy with a bazooka should they so wish. Policy newsmakers Omnibus confidence The two largest political groups in the European Parliament have been outspoken about their expectations for the Omnibus package on sustainability, which is set to be presented by the European Commission on Wednesday (26 February). On Friday, Iratxe García Pérez, leader of S&D, sent an open letter urging Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reconsider plans to reopen legislation requiring firms to ensure there is no environmental damage or abuse of human rights along their supply chains. However, European People's Party lawmakers remain confident that the package will be presented in line with the party's position. "I trust in the common sense of the Commission that this letter will not be successful, that we will have the Omnibus covering all four legislations, and that it will be a courageous proposal,' said Peter Liese, the EPP's environment leader, while briefing reporters in Brussels. Policy Poll
Euronews
21-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Conservative EPP confident of success in EU deregulation push
German lawmaker Peter Liese has dismissed a last minute plea from the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group, calling on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reconsider plans to reopen legislation requiring firms to ensure there is no environmental damage or abuse of human rights along their supply chains. Social democrat MEPs 'categorically oppose' the inclusion of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in the legislative package expected on 26 February, S&D group leader Iratxe García wrote. The hard-fought legislation has not even been implemented yet, and 'does not contain reporting requirements,' Garcia wrote in the letter dated 20 February, which also calls for guidance rather than a gutting of the related CSDD. Although signals from within the Commission suggest the package is still a work in progress and the subject of urgent meetings behind closed doors, the S&D was particularly concerned about the potential scrapping of key enforcement and judicial redress provisions. 'Not only would these changes amount to stripping the directive of its power and rendering it ineffective, the changes would risk worsening…actual human rights and environmental abuses and significantly restricting the rights of victims,' Garcia wrote. A price worth paying But Liese, whose group is also von der Leyen's political home and was instrumental in pushing a raft of Green Deal legislation back onto the political agenda, was bullish about the prospects of the Commission backing the EPP's line. "I trust in the common sense of the Commission that this letter will not be successful, that we will have the omnibus covering all four legislations and that it will be a courageous proposal,' Liese said while briefing reports in Brussels. There are two other laws that the veteran Christian Democrat lawmakers referred to. One is the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), an import duty based on the estimated carbon footprint of certain goods like steel and cement. The other is Taxonomy Regulation, which is a list of industrial sectors deemed to be sustainable, and thus potential beneficiaries of EU support or investment through green bonds. All but the very largest of corporations should be exempted from CBAM reporting requirements, Liese said, arguing that Commission data shows 99% of emissions would be covered even with 91% of companies – including a new category of mid-cap firms - outside the scope of the law. A 1% decrease in the beneficial climate impact of the law was an 'acceptable' price to pay to shield European small businesses from the costly administrative burden, Liese asserted. Campaigning for Merz in Germany, sticking to net zero Despite the drive to free businesses of environmental obligations, Liese was adamant the EPP remained committed to EU climate goals, including a 55% emissions cut by 2030 compared to 1990, and net zero by the middle of the century. Speaking before heading to Germany to campaign for his party and its leader Friedrich Merz in the last two days before the general election, Liese said Germany's likely next chancellor – if the polls are correct – shared his commitment to climate action. 'I campaigned for him in his first campaign for the European Parliament in 1989, and really, you can trust that he will not work with the [far-right party] AfD,' Liese said. 'And you can trust that he will not give up the climate targets. In every speech, he says we need to stay on course because climate neutrality is a must.' But the EPP will likely need support from groups further to the right in the European Parliament to get any proposed amendments to environmental law onto the statute books, although Liese said he believes many rank-and-file members of the S&D share his group's concerns over red tape.
