Europe
MEPs vote on Hoekstra as climate commissioner
The future EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is in favor of taxes on kerosene. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Former Shell employee Wopke Hoekstra is expected to become the new EU climate commissioner. After a hearing, he was able to convince MEPs at committee level. But he still has one hurdle to overcome.
After tough discussions in the Environment Committee, members of the European Parliament voted for the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra was announced as the new EU climate commissioner. This paves the way for the entire EU Parliament to vote on the personnel this Thursday. It is likely that the 48-year-old will get the necessary simple majority there too. In addition, the member states still have to formally agree.
There was a lengthy debate in the EU Parliament about Hoekstra. Critics criticized the Christian Democrat primarily because of his professional past, which included working for the oil company Shell. He had to credibly assure MPs that he could promote climate protection. At committee level in Parliament, a two-thirds majority voted in favor of Hoekstra on Wednesday.
Hoekstra wants the EU to avoid or offset at least 90 percent of its CO2 emissions compared to 1990 by 2040. He also wants a tax on kerosene and subsidies for fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to be abolished.
What parliamentarians think of Hoekstra
The CDU climate politician Peter Liese wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Hoekstra made a lot of promises at the hearing, “almost too many for my taste.” He sees Hoekstra’s experience as foreign minister as a plus point for the Dutchman, as climate protection is an international problem.
The Greens and Social Democrats in particular had pushed for Hoekstra to make promises that were as concrete as possible. “Thanks to our pressure, Europe is moving towards the 1.5 degree course,” said Green MEP Michael Bloss. His SPD colleague Tiemo Wölken said: “In the remaining months of his mandate, we will pay close attention to ensuring that he keeps all the promises he made to us this week.”
Another controversial election
This Thursday there will also be a vote on whether EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will 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. The Slovakian is controversial, among other things, because he belongs to the same party as the left-wing winner of the Slovakian parliamentary elections, Robert Fico.
Fico was noticed during the election campaign with a pro-Russia stance and called for immediate peace negotiations with the aggressor Russia. He has now assured in writing that he will continue to work to ensure that Russian energy supplies are gradually stopped in all EU countries.