Juncker's Commission after hearings even stronger than before
"The decision of the ENVI and ITRE committees in European Parliament makes Juncker's commission even stronger than before", this is the conclusion of the spokesperson in the Environmental Committee of the biggest political group in the European Parliament (EPP – Christian democrats), Peter Liese.
The Parliament's committees rejected Commission's designated Vice-president Alenka Bratusek with 13:112 votes. The proposed candidate for climate and energy, Miguel Arias Canete, was approved by a majority of 77 to 48 votes.
Read more: Huge majority for Arias Canete, strong defeat for Bratusek
Brussels: President Elect of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker announced that after examination of European Parliament’s request the Health Commissioner also in the new Commission will have the responsibility for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. This was announced by Manfred Weber, chairman of the biggest political group in the European Parliament (EPP- Christian Democrats) in the group meeting on Wednesday.
In his initial concept Juncker suggested to entrust the polish candidate Elzbieta Bienkowska with the task who will be responsible for internal market and industry. This raised a lot of opposition from experts, in and outside European Parliament. Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety has asked three times for leaving the responsibility with the Health-Commissioner.
“I am very pleased that our good arguments convinced Jean-Claude Juncker”, said Peter Liese, (CDU), medical doctor by profession and spokesman on health of the EPP- Group.
The Environmental Committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament today rejected an objection tabled by the Greens against the so called carbon leakage list proposed by the European Commission some weeks ago. EPP members of ENVI support the list of the Commission, Committee now shares this view.
„We are happy with today's decision of ENVI. Fortunately, the attempt to reject the list proposed by the Commission was not successful“, said Dr. Peter Liese, spokesperson of Christian-democratic EPP group in ENVI, and Norbert Lins, the responsible EPP-MEP for the file.
"A rejection of the proposed carbon leakage list or only a further insecurity would have penalised those who invested in modern technology. This would have a negative impact on the European Emission Trading Scheme", said Liese right after the votes.
Read more: „Carbon leakage“: Environmental Committee rejects Greens' objection
Today, the European Commission presented its strategy on energy efficiency until 2030. With this communication the Commission completes a paper from spring where it already laid down targets on CO2 reduction (40 %) and renewable energies (27 %). With modern technologies like efficient boilers and electricity saving household products the European Union shall reach 30 % energy savings compared to a base year until 2030. So, the agreed target lies above the 25 % preferred by outgoing Commission-President Barroso and is significantly higher than the renewables target. European Parliament had adopted a resolution prepared by its Environmental and Industry Committees demanding a target of 40 %.