Rising energy prices: Hungary announces resistance to EU climate plans

foreign countries Rising energy prices

Hungary announces opposition to EU climate plans

Viktor Orban sharply criticizes the EU's climate plans

Viktor Orban sharply criticizes the EU Commission’s climate plans

Source: AP / Olivier Hoslet

Rising energy prices intensify the European debate about the right path to take in climate policy. Hungary complains that the situation threatens to “kill the European middle class”. The discussion in Brussels is interrupted after five hours.

I.In the European Union, a conflict over future climate plans is emerging around ten days before the next world climate conference. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called on the EU Commission on Thursday at the Brussels summit to “completely reconsider” its proposals. Some of these are “utopian fantasies,” he said of the proposal to include the transport sector and buildings in emissions trading in the future.

Orban argued that the project would further fuel the significantly higher energy prices and would “kill the European middle class”. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had previously emphasized that the price increase had nothing to do with the climate plans and that the EU should react “prudently”. Merkel advocates a market economy solution. The UN climate conference begins on October 31 in Glasgow.

The Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said that energy should not become “a luxury good”. But it is “the wrong approach” to question climate protection because of high gas and fuel prices.

also read

A fantastic abstract theme and picture of The Sunrise over the soft heavenly lit clouds in the sky over The Valley of The Sun of Phoenix, Arizona, America, during a fine Summer morning of August, 2020.

With the climate package presented by the Commission in July, the EU aims to reduce its emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Brussels is also in favor of a ban on the sale of new vehicles with internal combustion engines from 2035. The plans are also controversial in Germany.

Several hours of debate about energy prices

Southern European countries such as Spain and Greece in particular have come under pressure from the rise in energy prices. Similar to vaccines, Spain is pressing for joint gas purchases and a strategic EU reserve. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez criticized before the summit that the EU was moving “slower than desired”. Sanchez spoke out in favor of reforming the European electricity markets.

The Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki blamed the “economic blackmail” by Russia and the state-run Gazprom group. Commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline to Germany will exacerbate the problem, he warned.

In Germany, too, the debate about Nord Stream 2 has gained momentum again. Green leader Annelana Baerbock recently called for the project not to be granted an operating permit. The chairmen of the Bundestag committees for economy and energy and for economic cooperation and development, Klaus Ernst (left) and Peter Ramsauer (CSU), criticize Baerbock’s attitude. For their “allegation that Russia is abusing the supply of natural gas to blackmail Europe and is responsible for the increased energy prices”, there are no indications, both write in a joint statement. A “possible future foreign minister” can be expected to be knowledgeable.

also read

The heads of state and government spent several hours discussing energy prices at the EU summit. This shows how “focused” the political leaders are on the issue, explained an EU diplomat. After almost five hours, the heads of state and government interrupted their discussion of the drastically increased prices. It was initially unclear when the deliberations should continue.

.
source site