Betekent opzet nieuwe EU–Commissie einde van Europees milieubeleid?

Miguel Arias Cañete: kandidaat Eurocommissaris voor energie èn klimaat.

De fusie van energie en klimaat in één portefeuille zou een einde kunnen maken aan het voortdurende gesteggel, dat de verhouding tussen de voormalige Eurocommissarissen Connie Hedegaard (klimaat) en Günther Oettinger (energie) kenmerkte.

Onder de titel, 'Juncker’s plan would ‘shut down environmental policy’, campaigners warn', schreef Dave Keating voor de 'European Voice':

Jean-Claude Juncker’s decision to group commissioners into teams serving under a vice-president has been welcomed by some interest groups, and derided by others.

Environmental campaigners are unhappy about the new organisational structure, while industry groups say it will avoid disjointed or conflicting policies and will reduce red tape.

Juncker has grouped energy, climate and environment portfolios together serving under Alenka Bratušek, the vice-president for energy union. Within this subject area, he has merged four existing commissioner posts into two. Energy and climate, which are currently two separate portfolios, have been combined into one post, to be held by Miguel Arias Cañete from Spain. Environment and fisheries, previously two separate posts, have been merged into one, to be held by Karmenu Vella from Malta. ...

De milieubeweging vreest dat de nieuwe organisatiestructuur het einde betekent van het EU–milieubeleid en slijpt de messen om Cañete bij de les te houden.

Rumours of the intention to combine the climate and energy portfolios have been sparking alarm among environmentalists for weeks. But the elimination of a dedicated environment portfolio came as a genuine shock to green groups.

[ ] The ‘Green 10’ – an alliance of European environmental NGOs – sent a letter to Juncker saying that his restructuring decisions suggest a “de–facto shutdown of EU environmental policymaking”.

The campaign groups say that placing these commissioners under a vice-president for energy union “could imply that climate action is considered subordinate to energy market considerations”. Only vice-presidents will be able to put policy proposals on to the Commission’s agenda, according to Juncker’s new system. The campaigners say there is a “virtual lack of any reference to environment in the responsibilities of the vice-presidents”. ...

The campaigners say the mandate letter sent by Juncker to Vella indicates that the commissioner’s role will be one of environmental deregulation.

Maar het bedrijfsleven is positief over de veranderingen.

However, business groups say the new structure will eliminate inefficiencies that were causing confusing and inconsistent policy indications in the previous commission.

For instance, Connie Hedegaard and Günther Oettinger, the commissioners for climate action and energy respectively, clashed on many issues and their departments were sometimes giving conflicting messages.

Markus Beyrer, director-general of BusinessEurope, described Juncker’s reorganisation as a “courageous approach for a streamlined structure of the new Commission”.

“This underlines the clear aim to focus on the crucial priorities necessary to make Europe more competitive in order to deliver more growth and more jobs,” he said.

Lees verder hier.

De milieubeweging is inmiddels begonnen Cañete het leven zuur te maken door hem te kapittelen over zijn financiële belangen in de olieindustrie.

Onder de titel, 'Spain’s Cañete to Get EU Merged Climate-Energy Chief Role', schrijft Ewa Krukowska onder meer voor Bloomberg:

Cañete could also come under pressure because of his links to the oil industry, according to environmental lobby Greenpeace. His declaration of financial interests, dated June 10 and published on the European Parliament’s website, shows he has a 2.5 percent holding in Petrolifera Ducar S.L and a 2.5 percent holding in Petrologis Canarias S.L. oil companies.

“Cañete is a surprising choice, given his connections to the oil industry,” Greenpeace EU managing director Mahi Sideridou said in e-mailed statement. “To prove he is the right man for the job, he’ll have to resolve conflicts of interests and improve on his environmental record as a minister.”

Lees verder hier.

Cañete zou geschiedenis kunnen schrijven door een einde te maken aan het geldverslindende en nutteloze decarboniseringsbeleid van de EU, inclusief het CO2-emissiehandelssysteem. Maar het zou mij verbazen als hij dat voor elkaar zou krijgen.

Voor mijn eerdere DDS–bijdragen zie hier.