To be the EU’s new climate chief, Hoekstra must reach out to the left

Wopke Hoekstra, the Dutch nominee to become the EU’s new climate commissioner, will need backing from at least four political groups in the European Parliament if he wants to be confirmed for the job on Monday (2 October).

Hoekstra, a Christian democrat affiliated with the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), was nominated after his predecessor, Frans Timmermans, a socialist, resigned to lead his party’s campaign for the Dutch general election alongside the Greens.

The hearing, scheduled from 18:30 to 21:30 in the Strasbourg premises of the European Parliament, will be a key political test for Hoekstra, who will need to convince a broad cross-party majority of MEPs to land the job.

The three-hour grilling will be followed by a closed-door meeting where coordinators of the Parliament’s political groups will evaluate Hoekstra’s suitability.

“If two-thirds of the coordinators express their support, Hoekstra becomes Commissioner,” explains Pascal Canfin, the chairman of the Parliament’s environment committee who will preside the hearing. The decision will be confirmed during a plenary vote on Thursday (5 October) involving all of the Parliament’s 705 MEPs.

But Hoekstra will be walking a political tightrope: his own political family, the EPP, does not have enough votes to secure his position, even with support from the ultra-conservative ECR group.

The Dutchman will, therefore, need to reach out to the centrists (Renew), the socialists (S&D), and the Greens for support.

“So the question is quite simple: can the Commissioner muster a two-thirds majority, bearing in mind that this requires the support of at least four political groups?” Canfin told Euractiv in an interview.

This certainly won’t be easy. The Parliament’s Socialist group has promised a rough ride for Hoekstra, who stirred controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for an investigation into the budgetary difficulties faced by southern EU countries, prompting angry reactions in Portugal.

One of the eurozone’s fiscal hawks, Hoekstra was also among the leading opponents of changing the EU’s strict public debt and deficit rules, which the socialists want to reform.

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2040 climate target

In an interview with Euractiv, Canfin said lawmakers from his Renew political group would evaluate Hoekstra’s candidacy on three things: his commitment to an ambitious EU climate target for 2040, his ability to close pending Green Deal legislative files, and his “personal storytelling”.

“His experience as Finance Minister may prove useful for financing the transition but requires clarification of his more than conservative past positions on joint EU debt,” Canfin suggested.

But the most important, according to him, will be Hoekstra’s commitment to an ambitious climate target for 2040.

“We already have a reference – the opinion of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, which called in July for a 90-95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040,” the French centrist MEP pointed out. At the other end of the spectrum are oil companies – traditionally more conservative – which said an 80% reduction is the maximum the EU should aim for.

“What will candidate Hoekstra have to say on the subject?” Canfin asked, saying the Commission is expected to table its proposed 2040 target in January or February next year.

“Between 80% and 95%, we’ll be able to measure his level of ambition. He’s the one who’ll be steering this process, so we’ll be paying close attention to his answers,” the French MEP said.

Hoekstra’s affiliation with the European People’s Party (EPP) is also a red flag for many left-wingers because the EPP has led an attack against the EU’s proposed Nature Restoration Law, one of the critical parts of the European Green Deal.

“We want to look at the implementation of the nature restoration law that has created a lot of conflict in the European Parliament, and the Commission needs to stand very firmly behind this,” said Terry Reintke, a German MEP who is co-president of the Greens/EFA group in Parliament.

More broadly, Reintke said the Greens were “very critical” of Hoekstra’s nomination.

“I mean, he’s a conservative from the Netherlands,” she said, referring to his comments on Southern EU countries during the COVID-19 crisis and “his track record” on climate issues.

However, Canfin did not dismiss Hoekstra’s candidacy on the sole basis of his political affiliation, saying: “Nobody in Renew is in principle hostile to an EPP commissioner for this role.”

“What I’m saying is that candidate Hoekstra will have to give us reasons to vote for him on Monday,” he told Euractiv. “And one way for Hoekstra to convince the Renew and Socialist MEPs will be to demonstrate that he is capable of making a clear commitment to the 2040 target.”

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Another red flag for some left-wingers is Hoekstra’s two-year tenure at Dutch oil giant Shell, where he held “commercial positions” twenty years ago, in 2002-2004, according to his official CV.

Rise for Climate, a campaign group, said they opposed Hoekstra’s nomination “because there is clearly a conflict of interest and a threat to European climate policy if it is entrusted to a representative from the oil sector.”

But those arguments were brushed aside by Peter Liese, a German lawmaker who is the EPP’s spokesperson on climate policy.

“It’s a long time ago, 20 years. And I don’t think that it should be an issue in the evaluation for the job,” he told journalists at a press briefing on Friday (29 September).

Šefčovič in the balance

Liese also suggested the EPP could retaliate if Hoekstra were rejected on Monday evening by voting the following day against Maroš Šefčovič, the Slovak EU commissioner who was nominated to replace Timmermans as vice-president in charge of the European Green Deal.

Parliament will hold a confirmation hearing for Šefčovič on Tuesday, and Liese said parts of the EPP group were opposed to his nomination because he was appointed by Robert Fico, a socialist seen as holding pro-Kremlin views.

“I like Mr Šefčovič,” Liese said. “But there are colleagues in the EPP group who say Šefčovič is a Fico guy. I need to keep that under control. And it’s easier to keep that under control if we have a fair assessment of M Hoekstra,” he said.

Canfin, too, acknowledges that the destinies of Šefčovič and Hoekstra were tied, saying the EPP will likely vote against the Slovak EU commissioner if the Dutch candidate is rejected.

“So we have a political equation that goes beyond the single issue of the Climate Commissioner and encompasses the two candidates and the votes at these two hearings,” Canfin told Euractiv.

A key question, therefore, is whether the Greens will reject Hoekstra as a matter of principle or give the Dutchman a fair chance to defend his candidacy.

Speaking to Euractiv, Reintke suggested the Greens would remain constructive.

“You know, we are not a fundamental opposition in this Parliament – we want to play ball, we want to be part the of the power game,” she said.

According to Reintke, what matters is that the Commission continues pushing for Green Deal legislation until the end of its mandate, which expires on 31 October 2024.

“The planet is burning, so we have to act, and this will be our priority,” Reintke said. “And yes, if there is a satisfying commitment on this, if we see things being delivered, then we are also open to supporting the two commissioners.”

The ultraconservative ECR, for their part, said they would seek commitment from Hoekstra to defend the principle of technological neutrality – including nuclear power.

“If a technology-neutral approach is endorsed, investors will be able to invest in nuclear power plants, including small modular reactors, and better contribute to climate goals,” said Michael Strauss, a spokesperson for the ECR.

The hearing will start at 18:30 with a 15-minute introductory statement by the candidate, followed by questions from MEPs. There will be 25 questions altogether: one minute per question, followed by a one-minute answer from the candidate and a possible follow-up question from the MEP.

Before the hearing ends, the candidate will be given the floor for a closing five-minute statement. You can watch the hearing on the Parliament’s website here. Read the full Q&A interview with Pascal Canfin here (in French).

[Edited by Alice Taylor. Additional reporting by Max Griera]