Wednesday

6th Dec 2023

Letter

Right of reply: Paolo Borchia MEP

  • Paolo Borchia is an Italian MEP with the right-wing nationalist Identity and Democracy Group (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

Reply by Paolo Borchia, MEP, to the article Lead energy MEP silent on gas meetings before vote published by EUobserver on 23 September.

In my capacity as shadow-rapporteur on the TEN-E file, I have worked for several months on this complex dossier along with MEPs from all the political forces of the EU Parliament.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

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

... or subscribe as a group

I hereby provide my reply to the article published by EU Observer, first and foremost in order to dismiss its groundless claim that I refused, supposedly, to disclose information about alleged meetings with gas lobbyists. Such meetings have simply not taken place.

I believe furthermore that my first-hand experience may offer some relevant insights to the subject matter, while it may also help clarifying other controversial points that were made in the article itself.

I refer for example to the allegations of corruption and lack of transparency that appear in reference to the above-mentioned dealings between MEPs and lobbyists.

While I have not met with any stakeholders during my mandate as shadow-rapporteur on this dossier, still I would not be surprised at all if I learned that some of my fellow MEPs have held meetings with representatives of the gas sector, provided that such an exchange followed the normal framework expected by the institutions' ethical standards.

As a matter of fact, dialogue between stakeholders and the EU institutions is usually a well-regulated, transparent and essential step of the legislative process.

After entering into force, legislative proposals that were negotiated in Brussels and Strasbourg may bear heavy repercussions onto several sectors of the real economy.

Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs may be lost across Europe because legislators got something wrong while negotiating, while European industry may lose competitiveness overnight vis-a-vis other global players just because some policy-maker in Brussels forgot to properly factor-in data provided by the real economy.

It is therefore in the best interest of democracy that consumers' unions, business associations and representatives of local administrations are given the right to observe legislative activities in Brussels and inform lawmakers whenever a piece of legislation may produce unexpected impacts onto a given sector.

The same rights of representation do apply to representatives of low-carbon technology-based sectors, which constitute a strategic section of European economy.

The dialogue between these stakeholders and the institutions should not, and must not, be classified as "non-transparent" or even "corrupted" merely on the grounds of natural gas's lack of "political appeal" in some areas of the political arena.

In this regard, let us consider the following:

Since the beginning of the current mandate, there has been much talk within the EU institutions about the need to move forward as quickly as possible with the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Green Deal strategy was unrolled by the Commission as an encompassing instrument that would apply "green" benchmarks to virtually all legislative sectors.

This would in turn lead, or actually force, the Internal Market to suit its offer-demand capacity exclusively to climate-friendly technologies.

Natural gas as well as any form of low-carbon energy sources have been quickly labelled as "intruders", whose persistence within the European industrial apparatus would disrupt efforts to reconvert the Internal Market's economic model.

For such reasons, the European Commission proposed last year to exclude all dedicated support for oil and gas infrastructure under the TEN-E regulation - in a bid to align energy policy with its Green Deal's objectives.

However, there are flaws within this narrative.

No matter how hard the EU Commission and some sections of the parliament push for the creation of a purely renewables-based market, the truth is that renewables have yet to produce credible solutions for key strategic sectors of our economy.

There simply cannot be an "only-renewables" internal market until technology is sufficiently developed and affordable to generate sufficient demand.

In other words, if we want to be able to purchase affordable cars and to travel by plane and ship, we have no other option at this stage than relying on low-carbon sources.

Not to mention that there are very concrete reasons to believe that the recent over-enthusiasm about the renewables' potential has contributed to the current surge of energy prices, which is likely to be of structural rather than temporary character. And the costs of such miscalculations are falling once again upon the consumers' and small business owners' pockets.

The overnight removal of all forms of low-carbon energy from the internal market is therefore simply unthinkable unless we want to trigger a massive social and economic earthquake across half the Union.

Low-carbon energy constitutes an economically and technologically viable alternative of moderate environmental impact, which can therefore support a progressive energy transition according to a bottom-up timetable that takes into account the real evolutionary potential of market and technology as well as the real living necessities of European citizens.

Author bio

Paolo Borchia is an Italian MEP with the right-wing nationalist Identity and Democracy Group.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Lead energy MEP silent on gas meetings before vote

NGO watchdogs have slammed the MEP leading the energy committee's work on the controversial revision of EU rules for funding major energy projects for refusing to disclose his meetings with gas lobbyists, ahead of a crucial vote next week.

Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence

What is obvious is that PiS put in place a set of interlocking safeguards for itself which, even after their political defeat in Poland, will render it very difficult for the new government to restore the rule of law.

Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?

Six months ahead of the EU elections, knocking an 'elitist' climate agenda is looking like a vote-winner to some. Saving the Green Deal and the EU's climate ambitions starts with listening to Europeans who are struggling to make ends meet.

Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace

The optics of a nine-fold increase of annual funding for Israel, in the middle of its devastating military campaign in Gaza, stands in contrast with the attempted suspension, delaying and constraining of EU development aid for the Palestinians.

Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?

Six months ahead of the EU elections, knocking an 'elitist' climate agenda is looking like a vote-winner to some. Saving the Green Deal and the EU's climate ambitions starts with listening to Europeans who are struggling to make ends meet.

Latest News

  1. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  2. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  3. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  4. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit
  5. A look to the past and the future of China-EU relations
  6. Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence
  7. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  8. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us