“we must avoid a European “yellow vests” effect” with the Green Deal

Since 1er January and until June 30, France holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (PFUE). The climate will be one of the major challenges, with work on the “Fit for 55” legislative package, which tackles all economic sectors in order to achieve the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the EU. EU: a reduction of at least 55% by 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2050.

Pascal Canfin, Renew MEP (of which the French Macronist delegation is the main component) and President of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, discusses the main challenges of this presidency.

On Wednesday January 19, Emmanuel Macron will give a speech in the European Parliament. How can Paris, during the PFUE, step up the fight against climate change?

We are going to speed up the ongoing negotiations, in the Council and the European Parliament, on the fourteen texts that make up the 2030 climate package, whether they are CO standards2 cars or the overhaul of the carbon market. With one priority: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (MACF).

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To this package, we must add two draft directives on which France also wants to make progress by March. That on batteries, which should allow the EU to become the second largest producer behind China in 2025, when today everything is done in South Korea, Japan or China. And the one on imported deforestation, which will ban imports into the EU of beef, soy, palm oil, coffee and cocoa if they contribute to deforestation.

Do you find the Commission’s proposal on the carbon border tax satisfactory, which seeks to penalise, for the most polluting sectors (steel, electricity, cement, etc.), imports from third countries with less stringent environmental standards?

The implementation of this mechanism will be a world first. The MACF was defended unsuccessfully by Chirac, Sarkozy and Hollande. Today it is a proposal for a European law, we are no longer discussing the principle, but its modalities. This is a major victory to put the climate in the trade rules and to fight against the climate dumping of our competitors. And I want it to be as ambitious as possible. We can imagine having more sectors covered, such as the chemical industry, and going faster than the Commission is proposing, i.e. setting up before 2026.

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Moreover, in the current state of the proposal, a car produced by Renault in Tangiers (Morocco), which uses Turkish steel, would not be subject to the MACF, unlike the same car, produced in France, with the same Turkish steel. This flaw needs to be corrected.

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