Energy, Environment & Transport Pro Brief |
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Tue 5 November 2024 | View online
Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes |
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Good morning , And welcome toTuesday 5 November’s daily Energy, Environment and Transport Pro Brief.
Last night incoming transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas elicited good vibes from MEPs. Read on to learn how he did it.
And today respective energy and environment commissioner hopefuls Dan Jørgensen and Jessica Roswell will take their own turns in the hot seat, hoping to secure similar positive noises.
Follow our live blog of the hearings, which kicks off from 14:30. |
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Assured Tzitzikostas successfully steers through transport hearing |
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Designated Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas combined a mix of political canniness, composure and subject knowledge, to glide through his audition in front of Transport Committee MEPs on Monday evening (4 November).
Circa two hours after the hearing concluded, his centre-right EPP group confirmed on X that TRAN coordinators had approved Tzitzikostas.
Immediately after the hearing MEPs were largely positive about the Greek's performance.
"We heard what we wanted to hear," Renew's transport coordinator Jan-Christoph Oetjen told Euractiv.
Green transport coordinator Kai Tehethoff gave a guarded welcome in comments to Euractiv.
Speaking about Tzitzikostas' promises on rail ticketing, Tehethoff called this a "very welcomed oral commitment" and said that he is "now looking forward to the concrete proposals."
S&D transport coordinator Johan Danielsson said that it was a "good start of the hearings" but that "many questions still remain!"
Read the full article from the Euractiv transport team to learn how Tzitzikostas’ confidence - mostly - worked to his advantage; how he offered something for all centrist parties; and how he was at his best when he stuck closely to his mission letter from Ursula von der Leyen.
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Man-of-many-interests Dan Jørgensen must focus on the detail |
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Denmark's Dan Jørgensen has already collected an impressive range of titles and commendations, but if he wants to adds Energy & Housing Commissioner to the list, he will need to show focus and a command of detail in this afternoon’s hearing in front of industry, energy and employment MEPs.
Jørgensen, the commissioner-designate for energy and housing, will bring political heft to the next Commission. The Danish socialist has more than six years of national ministerial experience and is currently serving as minister for development cooperation and global climate policy.
He also has two terms as an MEP (S&D) under his belt, from 2004 to 2013, including two years as vice-chair of the Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI).
However, it is his experiences outside of politics which may mark him out in weekly College of Commissioner meetings.
Jørgensen is a published author and editor of multiple books, and hosts a high-profile 'Planet A' podcast. Moreover, thanks to a series of high-profile relationships with Danish models and an influencer, he is no stranger to the tabloids.
Against these wide-ranging interests, however, there has been one constant theme to Jørgensen’s work – climate.
Read the full Euractiv article to learn how Jørgensen’s ebullient personality is both a blessing and a curse; how he will need to have mastered his 85 page ‘green cheat sheet’; and how, in contrast with his famous Facebook video, MEPs will want him to deliver less stuffing - and more meat.
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Roswall expected to survive tough MEP questions on chemicals |
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Sweden's Jessika Roswall, the EU’s incoming environment commissioner, is expected to face challenging questions on chemicals and green policy during today’s European Parliament hearing, though approval from MEPs seems likely.
To secure her position, the Swedish politician must garner support from both sides – or rely on a right-wing majority to push her through in a secret vote. Much like the current Swedish government’s dependence on far-right votes.
Controversially, Roswall is tasked by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with simplifying the EU’s flagship chemical regulation REACH, and providing clarity on PFAS, known as 'forever chemicals.' This mission has been widely interpreted as the slashing of red tape for industry, which has drawn mixed reactions, with support from the right and scepticism from the left.
For Rene Repasi, who chairs the German S&D group it is critical that behind “simplification, reducing bureaucracy, whatever you want to call the buzzword, there is no deregulation.”
Meanwhile, the hard-right ECR expects a different tune.
“I see the simplification of EU legislation as an essential obligation of the future Commission,” Czech MEP Alexander Vondra told Euractiv. Vondra speaks for the ECR on the environment.
Despite the difference in approach, the EPP is confident Roswall will not have too harsh of a time during her three-hour hearing.
“I do not expect major problems here because no colleague from the broad centre, including the ECR, so not only Renew and S&D, raised fundamental problems,” the German MEP Peter Liese (EPP) told journalists in Brussels last week. Liese negotiates for his party in ENVI.
Read Nikolaus J. Kurmayer’s full article, to find out why in the Parliament there is “no mood to get rid of Roswell.”
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The French perspective on Jørgensen |
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The hearing of the incoming Energy Commissioner will be closely watched in France.
Maxence Cordiez and Pierre Jérémie, two energy experts affiliated with economic think-tank Institut Montaigne, want Dan Jørgensen to make guarantees on the technological neutrality principle.
“It must become central to European policies in order to restore a degree of freedom of action to the Member States,” Cordiez told Euractiv.
To this end Jørgensen “should quickly start revising the so-called EU ‘Governance’ regulation, which sets out how the Member States’ energy targets are to be shared out,” said Jérémie, who is former deputy head of the cabinet of the French Energy Minister.
He wants Jørgensen to establish “new tools for sharing the effort between the EU's own resources and those of the member states.”
For French Renew MEP Pascal Canfin, “the priority is to make sure that Dan Jorgensen is talking about decarbonised energies as a whole, i.e. renewable nuclear power.”
Canfin is in tune with his group's energy policy, as well as that of French President Emmanuel Macron, which centres on four pillars: renewable, nuclear, energy efficiency, energy sobriety. [PM]
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The European energy interests at stake in US presidential election |
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Gas supply and industrial competitiveness are the two EU energy issues that are most implicated by the outcome of today’s US presidential elections.
Concerning gas, in the shorter-term “there should be no difference between Trump and Harris gas policy,” Olivier Appert, energy adviser at the French Institute for International Relations, told Euractiv, citing the similarities in export policies between the previous Trump and current Biden administrations.
However from 2027 onwards the attitudes of Trump or Harris towards gas production could have a decisive impact on prices and Europe's supply, according to Thierry Bros Professor at Sciences Po Paris.
Concerning industry, Harris wants to increase the budget to encouraging industries to locate in the US, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Democrat's policy could encourage more companies in key sectors of the transition to relocate their supply chain from Europe to the US.
Whereas Trump’s proposals - more tariffs on imports – could indirectly hurt Europe by driving more Chinese products into Europe. This would pose a challenge for Europe if these are products where the EU has its own manufacturing ambitions, for example solar panels, wind turbine blades or electric cars.
In any case, “Europe will have to be increasingly strategic, autonomous, in terms of technology, industry or defence,” former Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in French media La Tribune. [PM]
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Local grid investment can drop from €67bn to €55 bn per year |
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Europe may require larger investments into local, distribution grids than initially assumed, coming in at a €67 billion per year until 2050, according to a study by power-sector association Eurelectric released today.
The good news: Eurelectric says applying technology like dynamically adjusting power line capacity, which varies based on temperature, can cut that bill down to €55 billion per year. [NK]
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Climate divisions rock German coalition |
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A breakup of Germany’s ‘traffic light’ government coalition may be on the horizon.
A position paper by Finance minister Christian Lindner, released last Friday, suggests Germany’s “separate path in climate protection” was one of the major causes for the country’s economic stagnation.
Lindner, who is also the leader of the liberal FDP, argues Germany should urge the EU commission to abolish Green Deal-related red tape, including the EU taxonomy and corporate sustainability reporting rules.
Germany’s net zero deadline of 2045 should be pushed back to the align with the EU’s target of 2050, according to the paper.
National news media characterised the paper as a ‘divorce agreement’ for the coalition, which is increasingly dealing with inter-party friction.
The coalition committee next meets on Wednesday, when Europe will be digesting the immediate aftermath of the US presidential elections. Commenters are wondering whether Europe might also have to contend with the collapse of the German government.
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‘Made in Europe’ Hydrogen is possible - in the North Sea |
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The new Commission must take a holistic approach to circular economy |
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Today’s brief was brought to you by Euractiv’s Energy, Environment & Transport team |
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Today’s briefing was prepared by the Energy, Environment and Transport team: Donagh Cagney, Paul Messad, Nikolaus J.Kurmayer, Jasper Steinlein and Bárbara Machado. Share your feedback or information with us at [email protected]. |
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