Green package unleashes criticism against von der Leyen inside college – EURACTIV.com

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Some European Commissioners expressed their concerns on Wednesday 14 July over the historic Fit for 55 legislative package and criticized the way in which the massive initiative to transform the European economy has been handled by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have various officials declared to EURACTIV.com.

Seven Commission insiders consulted for this story said nearly a third of Commissioners had expressed concerns about the package or how it was brought forward. The same sources also confirmed that Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn voted against.

Officials said that at the college meeting, Hahn expressed full support for the package’s ambition, but complained that there was no reference to the new EU own resources needed.

The new carbon border adjustment mechanism to levy certain imports and the enlargement of the EU carbon market, two of the main proposals in the package, were to be part of the new own resources system to finance the stimulus fund.

Commissioners unhappy with aspects of the Fit for 55 initiative included some of the main sectors affected by the plan (Budget, Industry, Economy, Social Affairs) and came from the main political families (EPP, Socialists, Renew Europe), said a Commission official knowing the situation well.

In general, there was a shared frustration mainly over how the broad package of laws intended to transform the energy use of businesses and households was put in place, the sources agreed.

Von der Leyens’ team were more concerned with having a green flag with stars projected onto the building than with getting the deal right, an insider said.

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sense of unease among commissioners over the working method behind an initiative with such great political and social impact reveals the flaws in the president’s managerial skills. .

But unease had started to boil well before Wednesday’s meeting.

Three sources said red flags raised by some firms during the consultation phase were ignored.

One of the officials noted that the documents arrived quite late, some as late as last week. You would have needed more time and to start consulting earlier, the source explained.

As a result, cabinets and officials raced against time over the weekend to finalize details of the 13 initiatives included in the package.

Since Friday, there have been four meetings of chiefs of staff, some of which lasted more than 12 hours. Some teams worked on the proposals until late Tuesday night because von der Leyen wanted everything to be finalized before college started.

The talks the president gave while cabinets were still discussing the details were for some a clear sign that her commissioners’ opinion was being sidelined.

But the unease among the members of the college came not only from the process but also from the very substance of the legislative package.

A widely shared concern was the social impact of the package on vulnerable groups, particularly in some Member States, where families or industries still rely heavily on fossil fuels.

Some cabinets questioned the inclusion of road transport and buildings in the emissions trading system, one of the main novelties of the package. Others worry about the impact it will have on small and medium-sized businesses.

We agree with the climate targets, but the package is not mature enough in terms of details and timing, an official said.

Another source expressed doubts about the proper weighting of the external dimension of the package and its impact on international trade.

The most controversial elements of the package, such as the carbon adjustment mechanism, the revised ETS or the phase-out of gasoline vehicles by 2035, were not the only ones to arouse opposition.

Other segments have also ruffled some feathers, notably forestry strategy in the case of Swedish Commissioner Ylva Johansson, given the vital importance of the forestry industry in her country.

Sources in the college chat said almost everyone was praising the package but had a point on the left or right that they didn’t like, most of the time having nothing to do with it. with their wallets but many with national interests.

According to the same sources, the Vice-President of the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, was surprised by certain reactions heard in the room.

When we decided to cut emissions by 55%, I opposed it because I thought it was too much. But today I’m surprised that colleagues who wanted the 55% question the steps needed to get there, Schinas said, according to the sources.

Criticism of von der Leyens’ handling of one of his tenure’s main legislative packages came months after his cabinet was forced to back down on the activation of Article 16 of Ireland’s Protocol of North which would have destabilized the island.

Officials complained at the time that von der Leyen failed to consult with senior commissioners on the last-minute inclusion of the clause in the vaccine dispute with the UK.

Her team also rejected the involvement of the Commission’s protocol services in preparing for her trip to Turkey, where she found herself embarrassingly chairless during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

“The now infamous Sofagate could have been avoided,” a Commission official told EURACTIV at the time.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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