Plenary Flash - 12-15 December 2022
Greens/EFA priorities for the plenary session
European Council Summit & the rule of law |
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On Wednesday morning, MEPs will debate on the preparation of the European Council meeting of 15-16 December 2022. At last Tuesday's ECOFIN meeting of EU economic and finance ministers, the Hungarian government declared it would block the approval of 18 billion EUR of financial assistance to Ukraine. Decisions on the issues of the global minimum tax rate, the Hungarian government's Recovery Plan, and the Commission’s Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism Assessment for Hungary were postponed and could now be decided at the EUCO summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday next week. There will be an additional meeting of EU member states’ representatives on Monday ahead of the EUCO. The Greens/EFA Group call on EU leaders to stand up to Viktor Orbán’s bullying and blackmail. Debate: Wednesday, 14 December |
REPowerEU |
On Tuesday, the trilogue on the REPowerEU chapters of the recovery and resilience plans will take place. It is closely linked to the upcoming, and possibly final, negotiations on the Emissions Trading System and the Social Climate Fund, which will take place from Friday. The Greens/EFA Group call for funding REPowerEU with fresh money without increasing the EU’s carbon budget, not with money coming from the Innovation Fund and not with allowances coming from the Market Stability Reserve. The revenues from the CO2 market should be invested into the decarbonisation of the European economy and industry, not into further expanding fossil fuels.
All resources under RepowerEU should be dedicated to projects enhancing the Union’s independence and security through bolstering energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. The projects should also not cause significant harm to the environment, a principle well established in the RRF Regulation. In light of the invasion of Ukraine, we can exceptionally accept the financing of some gas projects as long as they are subject to strict safeguards that ensure that the relevant amounts are very limited, cover only immediate security of supply needs and have no alternative based on renewables.
MEPs: Damian Boeselager and Ernest Urtasun (REPowerEU BUDG-ECON)
Trilogue: Tuesday, 13 December
Permitting provisions in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED IV) |
Speeding up the uptake of sustainable renewable energy is essential to reach the goals of the European Green Deal, ensure the EU’s geopolitical and fossil fuels independence and to spur prosperity across Member States and regions by providing local green jobs. This further limited revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, stemming from the RepoweEU package of May, aims at simplifying and shortening the administrative permit-granting processes applicable to renewable energy projects, related storage and grid connections. This would in turn accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in the face of the current energy crisis and assist in ending dependency on Russian fossil fuels.
Greens/EFA MEPs: Ville Niinistö (Renewable Energy Directive, ITRE), Martin Häusling (Renewable Energy Directive, ENVI)
Debate: Tuesday, 13 December
Vote: Wednesday, 14 December
Turkish Airstrikes on Northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq |
On Tuesday, MEPs will debate Turkey’s recent military operations in Northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey has tried to justify the aggression as self-defense, reacting to what they consider threats to their territorial integrity from Kurdish minorities in the region. The Greens/EFA Group denounce the attacks and express great concern about credible reports of killings of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure. The Group urges utmost caution as well as unambiguous respect for international law and human rights. The civilian population should never be the victim of military self-defense, and the use of force must always be duly justified, proportionate and within the boundaries of international law. The Group also expresses concern about a possible escalation of violence and the risk of increased instability both in the region and within Turkey.
Debate/vote: Tuesday, 13 December
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GREENS/EFA PRESS CONTACTS
Simon McKeagney (Head of Communication)
Simon.mckeagney@europarl.europa.eu
Alex Johnson (EN press officer)
Alex.Johnson@europarl.europa.eu
Pia Kohorst (DE press officer)
pia.kohorst@europarl.europa.eu
Guendalina De Sario (FR press officer)
guendalina.desario@europarl.europa.eu
Helena Hellström Gefwert (EN press assistant)
helena.hellstrom@europarl.europa.eu
Mia Müller (DE press assistant)
Mirjam.Muller@europarl.europa.eu
Valentina Chiarini (FR press assistant)
valentina.chiarini@europarl.europa.eu
Valentina Servera Clavell (EFA Communications officer)
Valentina.ServeraClavell@europarl.europa.eu
