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Peter Liese: Neither medicine nor the transformation to climate neutrality will work without PFAS

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is planning a permanent exemption from the planned ban on the PFAS chemicals for essential applications, e.g. in medicine or in the transformation to climate neutrality. This emerges from a letter that von der Leyen has addressed to a number of MEPs. Five member states had requested a comprehensive ban from the European Chemicals Agency ECHA, based in Helsinki. This led to opposition from the industry, as this group of substances is very, very diverse and in some areas the material is absolutely necessary. For example, the production of mRNA vaccines by BioNTech is only possible because the lipids required for this are produced with PFAS at Evonik's plant in Hanau, Germany. PFAS is equally indispensable in medical technology and in the production of hydrogen and wind turbines. Von der Leyen now writes that the Commission will provide for exemptions for these areas.

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Major achievements in health policy / Leadership in climate protection working together with industry

"Ursula von der Leyen is the right candidate. She has led the European Union in difficult times with a steady hand and a good compass. I would particularly like to emphasize that she has managed to keep the European Union together despite great difficulties after the Russian invasion of Ukraine," said Peter Liese, environmental policy spokesperson for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) in view of the forthcoming nomination of Ursula von der Leyen as the EPP group's lead candidate (“Spitzenkandidat”).

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Price drop partly politically desired / Prices of €100 or significantly higher to be expected in the medium term

“The problem is not the ETS price, but the decline in industrial production Europe,” said MEP Peter Liese, environmental policy spokesperson for the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) and rapporteur on the revision of emissions trading, in view of the current discussions on the price of certificates in the EU’s emissions trading system. In view of a slight drop in the ETS price compared to last year, Marion Labatut, Director of European Affairs at the French energy supplier EDF, for example, said that low CO2 prices were slowing down the decarbonization of the electricity sector. The Commission should therefore avoid bringing even more certificates onto the market.

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Crises mastered well / Change of course in agriculture and industry was important

 The Presidium of the German CDU (Christian Democrats, EPP) has just nominated the current President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen as the lead candidate for the EPP (so called “Spitzenkandidat”). According to the will of the CDU, Ursula von der Leyen will continue to be Commission President after the European elections on June 9. The EPP Group's spokesperson for environmental and health policy commented on the decision as follows: "Ursula von der Leyen is the right candidate in turbulent, difficult times. She has led us well through the pandemic and is showing a clear edge for Ukraine and against the Russian aggressor. She has also handled other crises well. As a doctor and health politician, I find it particularly important that she has put the fight against cancer at the heart of European policy. We can hardly overestimate her achievements in climate protection. At the same time, in the last few months following the departure of Frans Timmermans, she made a smart change of direction and addressed the concerns of farmers before the farmer protests all over Europe even started. I think she was very right to withdraw the proposal to ban plant protection products in certain agricultural areas and to propose reducing the protection status of the wolf. The change of direction has also begun in the industrial sector and, in my view, must be vigorously continued. Especially if we want to achieve ambitious climate targets, we need to speed up permitting procedures and set priorities. Not a single bird can prevent a wind farm to be built and we should not ban chemicals that are particularly important for the energy transition or for medicine. Important first steps have been taken here with the Net Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act."

  1. Commission publishes EU 2040 climate target
  2. Ahead of the Commission’s Communication on the EU’s 2040 climate target
  3. Peter Liese on the EU Climate Advisory Board’s report:
  4. Climate conference between hope and fear