After the EU Environment Committee gave the green light, the EU Parliament has now voted for the Dutchman Hoekstra as the new climate commissioner. There were initially discussions about his nomination.
The EU Parliament has confirmed the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra as the new EU Climate Commissioner. In Strasbourg, 279 MPs supported the appointment of the 48-year-old as EU Commissioner for Climate Policy. 173 were against and 33 abstained, as Parliament announced. The EU states still have to agree to the personnel, which is considered a formality.
Sefcovic as “Green Deal” representative
The MPs also decided with 322 votes that the Slovakian EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic would take over supervision of the so-called “Green Deal” within the Commission. Behind this is the EU’s goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. 158 parliamentarians voted against the Slovak, 37 abstained. Parliament’s Environment Committee had previously given the green light for both personnel
EU Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic will in future be responsible for overseeing the so-called “Green Deal”.
Sefcovic will take on responsibility for the “Green Deal” in addition to his previous tasks. He is already deputy commissioner under President von der Leyen and is currently responsible for interinstitutional relations.
As the representative for the climate protection package, the 57-year-old is supposed to present proposals for the Commission’s outstanding legislative proposals in climate policy. These include, among other things, the new edition of the Chemicals Directive and regulations for animal welfare and microplastics.
Committee scrutinizes candidates
The 48-year-old Hoekstra was surprisingly proposed for the post of EU climate commissioner by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte – as a successor to his compatriot Frans Timmermans. EU Commission President von der Leyen then nominated him. Timmermans had left the EU Commission to run as the top candidate of a red-green electoral alliance in the parliamentary elections in his home country.
After his nomination, there was a lengthy debate about Hoekstra among EU parliamentarians. Critics criticized the Christian Democrat primarily because of his professional past, including with the oil company Shell. Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals had also feared that Hoekstra, together with his party colleagues in parliament, could significantly weaken the EU’s climate goals.
Hoekstra and Sefcovic spoke out at the hearing in favor of the EU having to avoid or offset at least 90 percent of its CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2040. Hoekstra also wants a tax on kerosene. Subsidies for fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas should be abolished.
World Climate Conference in Dubai is coming up
The vote in parliament also paves the way for Hoekstra to take part in the UN World Climate Conference in Dubai in two months’ time for the EU. The former Dutch foreign minister has more experience with international negotiations than with climate policy. The qualified lawyer was also formerly finance minister.
“It is important that the European Union is able to act before the important climate conference in Dubai,” said MEP Peter Liese (CDU) after the vote in Strasbourg. As a former foreign minister, Hoekstra has “the qualification that is needed most now – diplomacy.”
SPD MEP Tiemo Wölken said Hoekstra’s answers in the Environment Committee made it clear that environmental policy would continue to be pushed forward. A break in the law, which Christian Democrats had called for, is off the table. Green MP Michael Bloss said: “I have no doubt that the promises will be kept. We have assurances from the top of the EU Commission.”