Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU alliance calls for green recovery plan

  • Despite the reticence of some member states, calls for an EU-wide green recovery strategy has gained ground politically (Photo: Pictures of Money)

An alliance of 180 European politicians, business leaders, MEPs and environmental activists urged, on Tuesday (14 April), to increase green investment in the bloc to develop "a new model of prosperity" based on sustainability, the protection of biodiversity, and the transformation of the EU's agri-food system.

"Covid-19 will not make climate change and nature degradation go away [and] we will not win the fight against Covid-19 without a solid economic response," reads the letter, which was led by the initiative of Pascal Canfin, a liberal French MEP who chairs the European Parliament's committee on environment.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"Political will is here," the letter adds.

Alongside with a dozen EU ministers, the letter was co-signed by MEPs, business associations, the European Trade Union Confederation, NGOs, think tanks, as well as leaders of big companies such as Ikea, H&M, Lego, or Microsoft.

"After the crisis, the time will come to rebuild," their statement reads, calling for green recovery investment packages that can push the transition towards climate neutrality.

"This is not a matter of creating a new economy from scratch. We already have all the tools and many new technologies," it also says.

According to the director of the European branch of NGO World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ester Asin, "the broad support for this statement clearly shows that Europe's response to the Covid-19 crisis must put us firmly on the path to a truly sustainable, climate-neutral and just economy".

Following the last European summit and the agreement of European finance ministers last Thursday, the letter calls for an EU-wide green recovery strategy has gained ground politically.

Despite the resilience of some countries, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, half of member states have signed a separate open letter urging the EU to ensure its commitment to the Green Deal.

The statement was signed by the environment ministers of Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Germany, France and Greece - while Flemish nationalists in Belgium blocked the action at national level.

In this letter, ministers also urged to "withstand the temptations of short-term solutions in response to the present crisis that risk locking the EU in a fossil fuel economy for decades to come".

According to the European Commission, "green investments will be a key driver of the recovery, not an obstacle to it".

"The economic recovery and the transition to a sustainable and climate-neutral economy go hand in hand," the commission told EUobserver.

According to the commission, the recently-announced climate law was, in fact, designed to avoid that climate action is side-lined by more pressing and immediate challenges.

Analysis

Will coronavirus torpedo the Green Deal?

2020 was supposed to be the crunch year in the fightback against climate change. However, the coronavirus pandemic has flattened Europe and beyond, which is likely to slow down international negotiations to fight climate change

Analysis

First 100 days: Digital and Green Deal policies hit by crises

The first 100 days of Ursula von der Leyen's commission were supposed to be about the digital and environmental transitions. However, that agenda has been hit by first the coronavirus, and now the Greek border situation.

EU Commission's green recovery criticised as 'brown'

The European Commission's €1.85 trillion recovery plan from the coronavirus crisis did not convince environmental NGOs, such as Greenpeace, which believes that the proposal fails to offer a truly 'green recovery' and alternatives to the existing economic model.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us