The psychodrama was short-lived. After asking for final details, on Tuesday evening, October 3, MEPs from the Environment Committee of the European Parliament gave the green light, Wednesday morning, to the appointment of the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra as Climate Commissioner and approved the allocation of the entire Green Deal portfolio to the current vice-president of the European executive, the Slovakian Maros Sefcovic. The 705 elected officials should confirm this choice on Thursday in Strasbourg, but the outcome of the vote is not in doubt since four political groups – the conservatives of the EPP, the social democrats (S&D), the liberals of Renew and the Greens – are on this line.
The departure from the Commission of the Dutchman Frans Timmermans, who took the lead in the list of socialists and ecologists for the November 22 elections in the Netherlands, forced Ursula von der Leyen to reshuffle her team. On a proposal from The Hague, the president of the community executive chose to replace the social democratic commissioner with a conservative, Wopke Hoekstra, thus provoking the exasperation of the left of the European Parliament. Especially since the EPP, for a year, has been calling for a “pause” in the Green Deal.
In this context, Mme von der Leyen, herself from the ranks of the EPP, reduced the responsibilities of the Christian Democratic candidate, who briefly worked for the Shell company after leaving university, to climate-related issues, before joining the cabinet for a longer period of time. international audit McKinsey, then enter politics. To the extent that the European Union (EU) has already completed most of its agenda in the fight against global warming, the former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs will first have to prepare for COP 28 in November and focus on climate diplomacy. It was to the socialist Maros Sefkovic that she entrusted the other issues – environment, biodiversity, etc. – which were much less advanced, and responsibility for the entire Green Deal.
act of contrition
During his parliamentary hearing, on 1er October evening, Wopke Hoekstra increased his pledges to the left, joining “the continuity of Frans Timmermans” and promising in particular to work towards an end to fossil fuel subsidies. He also said he was in favor, ” personally “, that Europeans, already committed to reducing their CO emissions2 of 55% by 2030 compared to 1990, set an ambitious objective for 2040,“at least 90%”, in order to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.
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