Patriots look to derail EU climate policy with key parliament file

Key lawmakers from the eurosceptic Patriots for Europe (PfE) group have told Euronews they will seek to use a new power over a key climate file which was confirmed in the European Parliament on Wednesday to derail the EU’s climate policy.

On Tuesday it was confirmed that the PfE group will lead negotiations on the EU’s new climate target to reduce greenhouse emissions by 90% on 1990 levels by 2040, reserving the key role of rapporteur in the Parliament for the file for one of the group’s MEPs.

On Wednesday an attempt to dilute this power by pushing the file through an emergency procedure which would allow it to be adopted “without a report or on the basis of an oral report by the committee responsible” failed when 379 MEPs voted it down.

Wednesday’s vote provided confirmation that the third largest group in the Parliament, which has systematically opposed the EU’s climate policies, will now be tasked to produce a report and recommend a political line attached to the file.

“Now that the vote has dissipated our concerns, we will seek to revise in depth the EU’s climate policy, and not just modify on a very small scale some numerical targets,” said Fabrice Leggeri, an MEP from the Patriots and France’s National Rally.

It’s not yet clear which PfE MEP will bag the rapporteur role within the Environment committee (ENVI), which will oversee the legislative work, but officials touted that it might be an MEP from France’s National Rally, which has a large contingent of lawmakers on the ENVI.

The Commission 2024 proposal is aimed at reaffirming the bloc’s “determination to tackle climate change” according to the Commission’s website, and “shape the path” to climate neutrality, an objective that is at the heart of the EU’s Green Deal.

Patriots always disliked the Green Deal

But far-right parties have lashed out against what they see as the bloc’s climate change fanaticism and want to undo recent environmental rules. National Rally leader Jordan Bardella called for the immediate suspension of the EU’s Green Deal a few months ago.

“We have always opposed this [emission reductions] target, which we consider too difficult to reach for European companies and citizens,” Italian League MEP Silvia Sardone told Euronews.

“We need to discuss the best outcome for the European citizens, which of course is different from the target pushed so far,” added Sardone, the PfE’s coordinator in the ENVI committee.

The attribution of the file to the PfE results from a complex allotment system, which gives the large groups control over important files.

The vote on Wednesday triggered a backlash from leftist and centrist MEPs a day before the chamber is set to vote a motion of censure against Ursula Von der Leyen’s Commission.

Many lambasted the centre-right European People Party for rejecting the emergency procedure and letting the file rest in the hands of the far right. The outcome of the vote on the emergency procedure was indeed another display of the so-called “Venezuela majority”, the occasional alliance between EPP and right wing and far right parties to get crucial files through the Parliament.

Prior to the vote, the EPP’s Jeroen Lenaers had called the chamber to vote down the emergency procedure as “we just want to work on this proposal with the normal proceedings of this house.”

But the Greens argued that the Patriots’ opposition to the EU’s Green Deal will complicate negotiations ahead of the COP30 international climate conference in Brazil and before the United Nations deadline for submitting national climate plans.

Sardone from Patriots confirmed that the file will not pass committee stage in time for the law to be approved by November, when the COP30 takes place.

“The EPP is joining forces with right-wing extremists, making climate change deniers chief negotiators and putting the health, economy and credibility of the EU at risk,” said Lena Schilling, an Austrian green MEP.

“The heat waves of the past few weeks have claimed over 2,000 lives in the EU. The climate emergency is now, and it requires immediate action. Instead, the unholy alliance of conservatives and right-wing extremists is slowing [it] down.”