The reaction to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union speech on Wednesday has been somewhat mixed, with leaders calling for more ambition and a focus on the green transition.
European People’s Party President Manfred Weber supports the Commission’s green transition efforts, while outgoing Greens co-president Ska Keller thinks the executive should be more ambitious. Socialist leader Iratxe Garcia Perez wants to accelerate the shift to renewables underlying that “it is not the moment to come back to the past”.
These comments are among a series of interviews by Parliament leaders with EURACTIV on the topical points of Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech on Wednesday.
“The direction of the Commission’s proposal is right”, said Weber, referring to the green transition amid the war in Ukraine.
However, he thinks “the devil is in the details. If Emmanuel Macron is not ready to build up a gas pipeline to Spain, then he is harming the idea of building up a European energy market”.
“We want to appreciate the clear support for von der Leyen about the green transition and the renewable policy,” said S&D President Garcia Perez, who underlined the need to move towards a greener future.
?Does returning to use #fossilfuels because the war in #Ukraine matches the green ambitions of the Commission?
?Comment on the words of @vonderleyen on the topic of #energy @IratxeGarper @TheProgressives pic.twitter.com/jtdRfv8jzl
— EURACTIV (@EURACTIV) September 14, 2022
The problem with the State of the Union speeches lies in their implementation, said Ska Keller. “There were a lot of things in there that I can totally subscribe to,” said Keller.
But the difficulties come because the implementation process involves not just EU institutions but also the latter in dialogue with member state, she added.
Due Diligence and Migration
The Commission President “did not talk that much about due diligence and the responsibility of multinationals” said The Left co-President Manon Aubry. “When it comes to due diligence, human rights impacts, and environmental responsibility, it is very limited”.
She thinks von der Leyen has not been “consistent at all” on climate policy, because the Commission president praised EU trade agreements that are environmentally unsustainable.
“The response to the war in Ukraine was good and great in welcoming Ukrainian refugees, but looking at other not-EU countries where the big part of the migration flows are coming, we need something different from what the Commission and EU institutions worked on in the past five, six years,” Identity and Democracy President Marco Zanni told EURACTIV.
He believes that an agreement on the redistribution of migrants is not possible but sees a solution in creating hotspots outside EU borders managed by Frontex or other EU institutions.
?Comment on the roadmap on #migration
?Comment on the #RuleOfLaw words of @vonderleyen @Marcozanni86 @IDGroupEP pic.twitter.com/qFkxntPNHA
— EURACTIV (@EURACTIV) September 14, 2022
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
