The far-right, Greens and Social Democrats wreck compromises on emissions trading / Referral back to committee makes sensible compromises possible, but diminishes Parliament's influence


A majority of the far-right, Greens and Social Democrats narrowly rejected the Environment Committee's proposal on emissions trading (EU ETS) and referred the issue back to Committee. European Parliament rapporteur Peter Liese said: "The Social Democrats and the Greens have failed to live up to their responsibility for climate protection. The proposal has tightened up the Commission proposal in many places and means more climate protection, e.g. we would have achieved a 63% instead of a 61% reduction in emissions trading in 2030. We would have included waste incineration, included shipping much earlier than envisaged by the Commission and there were many other points where we tightened up the Commission proposal. For the Greens and Social Democrats this did simply not go far enough. They wanted a 67% reduction and a higher one-off reduction at the very time when we are challenged by the crisis in Russia and the need to become less dependent on Russian gas. I think it is really indecent and I hope that we can correct the mistake. Personally, I believe that the Council of Ministers will find sensible compromises on all the contentious points, but it is a pity for the Parliament. Sincere thanks go to the Liberal group and my group who supported the report in the end, although of course not everyone was happy with every single point."