Ursula von der Leyen has not made things easy for her party family over the past four years – the CDU politician sometimes had more friends among the Greens than in her own camp. In her State of the European Union speech, however, the Commission President tried to balm the wounds.
She paid tribute to “our farmers”, promised to do “whatever it takes” for Europe’s competitiveness and called for a quick agreement on the migration pact. EPP leader Manfred Weber, rather confrontational in recent months, was pleased and in his speech invoked the unity of the “Von der Leyen coalition”. His S&D colleague Iratxe García Pérez made no secret of her astonishment.
The Christian Democrats and their potential candidate are thus in the process of reconciling. Even if von der Leyen doesn’t end up on the CDU state list in Lower Saxony, she’ll probably be on the posters for the European elections in June 2024. In any case, she herself didn’t give the impression that she was already thinking about the end of her term in office. This is not likely to be changed by the fierce criticism from some industry associations, which do not want to be fobbed off with fine-sounding announcements.
In this issue, we will take a critical look at the key initiatives of her SOTEU speech. I hope you enjoy reading our briefing and are having a great day.
The Commission President announced an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles from China during her SOTEU speech. World markets are “flooded with cheap Chinese electric cars“, she said. Their price is artificially depressed by “huge government subsidies”, she added. This is also distorting the European market, she added.
Von der Leyen thus also anticipated what is likely to emerge from the investigation. Just as the EU does not accept state subsidies “from the inside”, she said, “neither do we accept them from the outside”. Europe is open to competition, she said, not to an unequal race to undercut.
The Commission President’s sentences make it clear that her political will is very strong to actually impose punitive tariffs on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) imported from China at the end of the investigation.
There is great concern that it will trigger a trade conflict between the EU and China. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Brussels responded by return mail, expressing “great concern and opposition”. It said the competitive advantage of e-cars from China was not due to government subsidies, but to technological advantage. This, it said, must be considered objectively by the EU “instead of resorting to unilateral economic and trade measures” that could hinder or increase the development and operating costs of Chinese BEVs in the European market.
Wang Lutong, in charge of European affairs at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed to sales promotions for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in many EU countries and wrote indignantly on X: “What position is the EU Commission in to launch an anti-subsidy investigation against electric vehicles from China? This is nothing but pure protectionism.”
Support for the Commission, on the other hand, comes from Paris and Berlin. France’s Economy and Finance Minister Bruno LeMaire said it was a “very good decision“. If the Chinese subsidies violate international rules, “we have to punish that”. German Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck expressed a similar view, saying that if there is a suspicion that unfair competition is taking place, the investigation is the right step.
Bernd Lange (SPD), Chairman of the Trade Committee in the European Parliament, also welcomes von der Leyen’s announcement: “The Commission’s decision is right because there are suspicions.” Competition, he said, must be about quality, not unfair prices. “Otherwise, companies like VW, which guarantee good jobs and strong employee rights, will be at a clear competitive disadvantage.” But Lange also cautions: “Any investigation should always be based on facts and not politically motivated.” Measures should guarantee fair competition and not be an instrument of protectionism.
Lange points out that China has a 60 percent market share in the production of batteries for BEVs. Additionally, 70 percent of the processing of lithium takes place in China. The SPD politician calls on the EU to become more active in industrial policy: “This includes trade agreements with Southeast Asia and more recycling to strengthen our battery production. Innovative thinking instead of protectionism.”
The fiercest opponents of possible punitive tariffs are the German manufacturers. They were caught cold by von der Leyen’s announcement. The shock runs deep, so deep that the industry remains largely speechless. In its first reaction, the VDA only invokes “free, fair and rule-based trade” and warns: “Possible counter-reactions must be taken into account.” BMW and VW do not want to comment officially at all. Mercedes is the only manufacturer to position itself against punitive tariffs: “Protectionist measures are counterproductive.”
Behind closed doors, representatives of the industry are becoming more explicit: They fear that the anti-subsidy investigation is the prelude to a serious trade conflict with China. If the EU gets serious, China will immediately impose retaliatory measures, they say. German premium manufacturers would suffer most from this. “The Commission president is acting on French orders here.” Von der Leyen is pouring oil on the fire of the already increasingly difficult trade relations with China.
There is also massive anger at French industry: “Ultimately, France is not only targeting competition from China, Paris also wants to weaken German premium brands.” Von der Leyen’s announcement alone is a clear strain on trade relations with China, the statement continues. Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis will feel it when he travels to China in a few days, he said. “The end result is that European industry will not become more competitive, but the position of Europeans in world trade will be weakened.”
German brands are unlikely to be directly affected by punitive tariffs on EVs from China. The German groups do not export any cars from Chinese production to Europe. BMW and Mercedes also do not compete with Chinese EVs on the European market. Only VW is in a competitive situation with its products with BYD.
BMW, Mercedes and VW exported 2.41 million vehicles last year. In Germany, VW, Mercedes and BMW produced 3.15 million passenger cars in the same period, 535,000 of which were EVs. In China, BMW, VW and Mercedes produced 4.48 million passenger cars in 2022, 275,000 of which were EVs. With Felix Lee and Till Hoppe
Ursula von der Leyen has spoken out clearly in favor of an EU expansion and, at the same time, deeper integration of the member states. This is not a question of either-or, the Commission president said: “We can and must do both.” Europe is facing the historic task of “completing our Union”, she said.
Von der Leyen stressed that accession candidates such as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkan states would first have to meet all the criteria – this would require “hard work and leadership”. However, she said, Kyiv and other candidates had already made a lot of progress and were showing determination to implement reforms.
Therefore, she said, it is now up to the EU to prepare for the accessions. “I believe that Europe also works with more than 30 states”, von der Leyen said. The CDU politician expressed her openness in principle to a European Convention and an amendment of the EU treaties, as demanded by the European Parliament. However, in view of the great resistance among member states, von der Leyen called for not waiting for a treaty change to move forward with the expansion: “We can achieve a Union capable of expansion more quickly.”
Von der Leyen has spoken out remarkably clearly in favor of linking expansion and deepening of the EU, said Nicolai von Ondarza, head of the EU/Europe research group at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. In doing so, however, she had avoided concrete proposals: “She is obviously trying to first establish agreement on this fundamental finding, which is far from being accepted by all member states.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had taken a very different perspective during his speech in Heidelberg – he advocated shifting extensive competencies back from the EU level to the member states. Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg recently rejected institutional reforms: The Lisbon Treaty offers enough leeway for expansion, he said.
Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, had linked the admission of new member states to reforms in the EU structure. Last week, France’s president again spoke out in favor of an EU of different speeds, so that states willing to integrate can lead the way. In particular, the German chancellor is calling for majority voting to be extended to new policy areas such as foreign and security policy and tax policy. But there are considerable reservations about this in smaller countries – they fear simply being outvoted on sensitive issues.
The heads of state and government are expected to discuss these issues at the informal meeting in Grenada in early October and at the EU summit in December. The December council will also have to decide whether to pave the way for accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. “That would be the time to say we are starting a reform process”, von Ondarza says.
Von der Leyen announced that the Commission would now begin to examine how the individual institutions and policy areas should be adapted to expansion. She said it was necessary to consider what the European Parliament and the Commission would look like with more than 30 member states. The EU budget and security architecture also need to be discussed, he said. “These are questions we have to face today in order to be prepared for the future.”
The import bans imposed by some neighboring European countries on grain from Ukraine are but a taste of the conflicts that admission of the huge agricultural country to the EU could bring. Also, Eastern European countries like Poland, which until now have received far more from the common budget than they have paid in, would suddenly become net contributors.
The Green Deal is still Europe’s strong answer to climate change. That was certainly the key statement on European climate and environmental policy in Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the EU address. Observers had hoped for such a renewed commitment to the green agenda after von der Leyen’s own party family in the EU Parliament blocked ambitious nature conservation legislation.
The Commission President has therefore not declared the Green Deal to be over, but has affirmed its continuation and announced further measures:
Von der Leyen promised to continue supporting European industry during the transition. It is crucial for Europe’s future competitiveness, she said. According to the EU Commission’s industrial strategy, risks and needs should be considered individually for each industrial ecosystem. The energy transition dialogues will help drive the development of a business model for decarbonization in each sector.
Wind energy can provide exactly what Europe’s industry urgently needs: cheap, green electricity. In this respect, von der Leyen’s announcements on the wind power package are logical. She wants:
However, legislative procedures are already underway at the European level for many of these points. The words of the Commission President should therefore be understood primarily as an appeal to the co-legislators and as a call to the member states to implement adopted rules quickly.
The German-Belgian transmission manufacturer ZF Wind Power takes a similar view. “Many measures will ultimately have to be implemented in the member states, at regional and local level. The decisive factor will be that Europe acts in unison and at all levels“, says CTO Martin Knops.
With the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), for example, the EU is on the verge of relaxing nature conservation and species protection regulations. Therefore, the WindEurope association is not calling for further simplification of planning law at the EU level, but for faster procedures at the national level.
More investor-friendly auction rules of the kind von der Leyen wants are already in the pipeline with the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). For the wind industry, the amount of the bids alone should not be the deciding factor; qualitative criteria should also be included – essentially, this means bonus points for criteria such as cyber security and sustainability. This would reduce the cost pressure on the industry and enable European manufacturers to compensate for the financial disadvantages they face compared with their Chinese competitors.
The EU is addressing dependencies in rare earths and copper with the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), and WindEurope wants to add fiberglass fabric to the list of beneficiary materials.
For investments in new factories, the Commission had already recently relaxed the aid framework for transformation technologies. “But it is crucial that the EU puts its own money on the table“, says WindEurope – for example, via the sovereignty and innovation funds. When it comes to financing, the European industry is also bothered by the unequal competition with China. Buyers of Chinese turbines, for example, would only have to pay if or after the wind farm has been actually built.
It is not yet known what the Commission plans to do with the wind power package beyond the legislative proposals already presented. According to von der Leyen, the goal is for Europe to once again become home to the cleantech industry.
Von der Leyen also had something to say about agriculture: The Green Deal preserves nature while ensuring food security, von der Leyen began in German. She thanked farmers and acknowledged their work to secure the “food supply and a high-quality diet”.
But she also called for “more dialogue and less polarization“. She was convinced that agriculture and nature conservation went together. Both are needed, she said, and announced a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU. How this should look, she left open. When asked by Table.Media, a spokesperson for the Commission also did not give any details. All details would be announced “in due course”.
It is the right signal to European farmers, commented Daniel Caspary, chairman of the EPP Group in the EU Parliament. The departure of Frans Timmermans offers the opportunity for a new form of “pragmatism and willingness to engage in dialogue in climate policy”. Terry Reintke, co-chair of the Greens in the EU Parliament, also welcomed the announcement of dialogue. “The polarization that the EPP, together with the right-wing parties, has not only brought about but downright fueled is damaging to agriculture, biodiversity and the climate”, she told Table.Media. Her group wants “joint solutions with farmers“, she said.
Specifically, the Commission President did not mention the Nature Restoration Law, the laws on pesticide use reduction (SUR), new genetic engineering, sustainable food systems or animal welfare. The revision of REACH and the laws banning the export of toxic substances banned in the EU also went unmentioned.
Europe’s climate policy efforts at the international level also went unmentioned. At the upcoming World Climate Conference in Dubai (COP28), Europe will have to do an enormous amount of convincing to ensure that other industrialized nations and emerging economies also transform their industries. Particularly in light of this year’s global stocktake – the main tool for raising the ambition of global climate goals – the absence of the topic from the speech is surprising, wrote Linda Kalcher, executive director of the pan-European think tank Strategic Perspectives, on X.
The environmental and development organization Germanwatch complains about a lack of socially just implementation of the Green Deal. “While the Commission President has identified industrial transformation as a key challenge, she should be much more specific about how she intends to further develop the Green Deal as a project in terms of a socially just transformation”, says Christoph Bals, Political Director of Germanwatch.
She was the talk of the town in 2020 when her husband ran for president in Belarus, was subsequently arrested and she took over his candidacy. Together with two other women whose husbands were not allowed to run as candidates, Svyatlana Zikhanouskaya continued in the presidential election. The election is internationally recognized as a sham, and the dubious results in favor of long-term powerholder Alexander Lukashenko sparked mass protests in Belarus. Officially, Zikhanouskaya won ten percent of the vote – but some analysts see her as the country’s elected president.
At the beginning of her political career, Zichanouskaya’s focus was predominantly on the fight for a democratic Belarus. But during her speech in the European Parliament yesterday, Wednesday, she made it clear: Her goals have only grown with the international crises. “I came here to ask for your support for a European perspective for Belarus”, the politician said. “Belarusians want to hear from you that the European Union is waiting for us.”
Quoting former Czech President Václav Havel, she said the future of Belarus is linked to the future of Europe and Belarus will one day be part of the European Union. “Let us turn this into reality”, Zichanouskaya said.
Lukashenko’s dictatorship has driven many Belarusians into exile. His challenger Zikhanouskaya therefore wants to introduce a new Belarusian passport that would give these people state recognition. The passport is modeled on those issued by Baltic states to people in exile during the Soviet occupation. “Very soon we will come to their governments and ask them to recognize our new passport”, Zichanouskaya announced in Strasbourg.
After the 2020 election, Zichanouskaya traveled to Lithuania. From there she called for peaceful protests against Lukashenko. Lukashenko, in turn, put out an international manhunt for her. When the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine began, Zichanouskaya declared herself the rightful representative of the Belarusian people. Because parts of the attack originated on Belarusian soil, the politician assumes that Lukashenko is supporting Vladimir Putin in his plan of attack.
The overthrow of Lukashenko remains the most important task for Zichanouskaya. “Murder of his competitors, torture of protesters, kidnapping of Ukrainian children, silent warfare against his own people and support of the war of aggression against Ukraine” – the list of his offenses is long. “Lukashenko does not deserve a place in international forums. All he deserves is a one-way ticket to The Hague.” Svenja Schlicht
Ursula von der Leyen has not made things easy for her party family over the past four years – the CDU politician sometimes had more friends among the Greens than in her own camp. In her State of the European Union speech, however, the Commission President tried to balm the wounds.
She paid tribute to “our farmers”, promised to do “whatever it takes” for Europe’s competitiveness and called for a quick agreement on the migration pact. EPP leader Manfred Weber, rather confrontational in recent months, was pleased and in his speech invoked the unity of the “Von der Leyen coalition”. His S&D colleague Iratxe García Pérez made no secret of her astonishment.
The Christian Democrats and their potential candidate are thus in the process of reconciling. Even if von der Leyen doesn’t end up on the CDU state list in Lower Saxony, she’ll probably be on the posters for the European elections in June 2024. In any case, she herself didn’t give the impression that she was already thinking about the end of her term in office. This is not likely to be changed by the fierce criticism from some industry associations, which do not want to be fobbed off with fine-sounding announcements.
In this issue, we will take a critical look at the key initiatives of her SOTEU speech. I hope you enjoy reading our briefing and are having a great day.
The Commission President announced an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles from China during her SOTEU speech. World markets are “flooded with cheap Chinese electric cars“, she said. Their price is artificially depressed by “huge government subsidies”, she added. This is also distorting the European market, she added.
Von der Leyen thus also anticipated what is likely to emerge from the investigation. Just as the EU does not accept state subsidies “from the inside”, she said, “neither do we accept them from the outside”. Europe is open to competition, she said, not to an unequal race to undercut.
The Commission President’s sentences make it clear that her political will is very strong to actually impose punitive tariffs on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) imported from China at the end of the investigation.
There is great concern that it will trigger a trade conflict between the EU and China. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Brussels responded by return mail, expressing “great concern and opposition”. It said the competitive advantage of e-cars from China was not due to government subsidies, but to technological advantage. This, it said, must be considered objectively by the EU “instead of resorting to unilateral economic and trade measures” that could hinder or increase the development and operating costs of Chinese BEVs in the European market.
Wang Lutong, in charge of European affairs at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed to sales promotions for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in many EU countries and wrote indignantly on X: “What position is the EU Commission in to launch an anti-subsidy investigation against electric vehicles from China? This is nothing but pure protectionism.”
Support for the Commission, on the other hand, comes from Paris and Berlin. France’s Economy and Finance Minister Bruno LeMaire said it was a “very good decision“. If the Chinese subsidies violate international rules, “we have to punish that”. German Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck expressed a similar view, saying that if there is a suspicion that unfair competition is taking place, the investigation is the right step.
Bernd Lange (SPD), Chairman of the Trade Committee in the European Parliament, also welcomes von der Leyen’s announcement: “The Commission’s decision is right because there are suspicions.” Competition, he said, must be about quality, not unfair prices. “Otherwise, companies like VW, which guarantee good jobs and strong employee rights, will be at a clear competitive disadvantage.” But Lange also cautions: “Any investigation should always be based on facts and not politically motivated.” Measures should guarantee fair competition and not be an instrument of protectionism.
Lange points out that China has a 60 percent market share in the production of batteries for BEVs. Additionally, 70 percent of the processing of lithium takes place in China. The SPD politician calls on the EU to become more active in industrial policy: “This includes trade agreements with Southeast Asia and more recycling to strengthen our battery production. Innovative thinking instead of protectionism.”
The fiercest opponents of possible punitive tariffs are the German manufacturers. They were caught cold by von der Leyen’s announcement. The shock runs deep, so deep that the industry remains largely speechless. In its first reaction, the VDA only invokes “free, fair and rule-based trade” and warns: “Possible counter-reactions must be taken into account.” BMW and VW do not want to comment officially at all. Mercedes is the only manufacturer to position itself against punitive tariffs: “Protectionist measures are counterproductive.”
Behind closed doors, representatives of the industry are becoming more explicit: They fear that the anti-subsidy investigation is the prelude to a serious trade conflict with China. If the EU gets serious, China will immediately impose retaliatory measures, they say. German premium manufacturers would suffer most from this. “The Commission president is acting on French orders here.” Von der Leyen is pouring oil on the fire of the already increasingly difficult trade relations with China.
There is also massive anger at French industry: “Ultimately, France is not only targeting competition from China, Paris also wants to weaken German premium brands.” Von der Leyen’s announcement alone is a clear strain on trade relations with China, the statement continues. Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis will feel it when he travels to China in a few days, he said. “The end result is that European industry will not become more competitive, but the position of Europeans in world trade will be weakened.”
German brands are unlikely to be directly affected by punitive tariffs on EVs from China. The German groups do not export any cars from Chinese production to Europe. BMW and Mercedes also do not compete with Chinese EVs on the European market. Only VW is in a competitive situation with its products with BYD.
BMW, Mercedes and VW exported 2.41 million vehicles last year. In Germany, VW, Mercedes and BMW produced 3.15 million passenger cars in the same period, 535,000 of which were EVs. In China, BMW, VW and Mercedes produced 4.48 million passenger cars in 2022, 275,000 of which were EVs. With Felix Lee and Till Hoppe
Ursula von der Leyen has spoken out clearly in favor of an EU expansion and, at the same time, deeper integration of the member states. This is not a question of either-or, the Commission president said: “We can and must do both.” Europe is facing the historic task of “completing our Union”, she said.
Von der Leyen stressed that accession candidates such as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkan states would first have to meet all the criteria – this would require “hard work and leadership”. However, she said, Kyiv and other candidates had already made a lot of progress and were showing determination to implement reforms.
Therefore, she said, it is now up to the EU to prepare for the accessions. “I believe that Europe also works with more than 30 states”, von der Leyen said. The CDU politician expressed her openness in principle to a European Convention and an amendment of the EU treaties, as demanded by the European Parliament. However, in view of the great resistance among member states, von der Leyen called for not waiting for a treaty change to move forward with the expansion: “We can achieve a Union capable of expansion more quickly.”
Von der Leyen has spoken out remarkably clearly in favor of linking expansion and deepening of the EU, said Nicolai von Ondarza, head of the EU/Europe research group at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. In doing so, however, she had avoided concrete proposals: “She is obviously trying to first establish agreement on this fundamental finding, which is far from being accepted by all member states.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had taken a very different perspective during his speech in Heidelberg – he advocated shifting extensive competencies back from the EU level to the member states. Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg recently rejected institutional reforms: The Lisbon Treaty offers enough leeway for expansion, he said.
Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, had linked the admission of new member states to reforms in the EU structure. Last week, France’s president again spoke out in favor of an EU of different speeds, so that states willing to integrate can lead the way. In particular, the German chancellor is calling for majority voting to be extended to new policy areas such as foreign and security policy and tax policy. But there are considerable reservations about this in smaller countries – they fear simply being outvoted on sensitive issues.
The heads of state and government are expected to discuss these issues at the informal meeting in Grenada in early October and at the EU summit in December. The December council will also have to decide whether to pave the way for accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. “That would be the time to say we are starting a reform process”, von Ondarza says.
Von der Leyen announced that the Commission would now begin to examine how the individual institutions and policy areas should be adapted to expansion. She said it was necessary to consider what the European Parliament and the Commission would look like with more than 30 member states. The EU budget and security architecture also need to be discussed, he said. “These are questions we have to face today in order to be prepared for the future.”
The import bans imposed by some neighboring European countries on grain from Ukraine are but a taste of the conflicts that admission of the huge agricultural country to the EU could bring. Also, Eastern European countries like Poland, which until now have received far more from the common budget than they have paid in, would suddenly become net contributors.
The Green Deal is still Europe’s strong answer to climate change. That was certainly the key statement on European climate and environmental policy in Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the EU address. Observers had hoped for such a renewed commitment to the green agenda after von der Leyen’s own party family in the EU Parliament blocked ambitious nature conservation legislation.
The Commission President has therefore not declared the Green Deal to be over, but has affirmed its continuation and announced further measures:
Von der Leyen promised to continue supporting European industry during the transition. It is crucial for Europe’s future competitiveness, she said. According to the EU Commission’s industrial strategy, risks and needs should be considered individually for each industrial ecosystem. The energy transition dialogues will help drive the development of a business model for decarbonization in each sector.
Wind energy can provide exactly what Europe’s industry urgently needs: cheap, green electricity. In this respect, von der Leyen’s announcements on the wind power package are logical. She wants:
However, legislative procedures are already underway at the European level for many of these points. The words of the Commission President should therefore be understood primarily as an appeal to the co-legislators and as a call to the member states to implement adopted rules quickly.
The German-Belgian transmission manufacturer ZF Wind Power takes a similar view. “Many measures will ultimately have to be implemented in the member states, at regional and local level. The decisive factor will be that Europe acts in unison and at all levels“, says CTO Martin Knops.
With the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), for example, the EU is on the verge of relaxing nature conservation and species protection regulations. Therefore, the WindEurope association is not calling for further simplification of planning law at the EU level, but for faster procedures at the national level.
More investor-friendly auction rules of the kind von der Leyen wants are already in the pipeline with the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). For the wind industry, the amount of the bids alone should not be the deciding factor; qualitative criteria should also be included – essentially, this means bonus points for criteria such as cyber security and sustainability. This would reduce the cost pressure on the industry and enable European manufacturers to compensate for the financial disadvantages they face compared with their Chinese competitors.
The EU is addressing dependencies in rare earths and copper with the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), and WindEurope wants to add fiberglass fabric to the list of beneficiary materials.
For investments in new factories, the Commission had already recently relaxed the aid framework for transformation technologies. “But it is crucial that the EU puts its own money on the table“, says WindEurope – for example, via the sovereignty and innovation funds. When it comes to financing, the European industry is also bothered by the unequal competition with China. Buyers of Chinese turbines, for example, would only have to pay if or after the wind farm has been actually built.
It is not yet known what the Commission plans to do with the wind power package beyond the legislative proposals already presented. According to von der Leyen, the goal is for Europe to once again become home to the cleantech industry.
Von der Leyen also had something to say about agriculture: The Green Deal preserves nature while ensuring food security, von der Leyen began in German. She thanked farmers and acknowledged their work to secure the “food supply and a high-quality diet”.
But she also called for “more dialogue and less polarization“. She was convinced that agriculture and nature conservation went together. Both are needed, she said, and announced a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU. How this should look, she left open. When asked by Table.Media, a spokesperson for the Commission also did not give any details. All details would be announced “in due course”.
It is the right signal to European farmers, commented Daniel Caspary, chairman of the EPP Group in the EU Parliament. The departure of Frans Timmermans offers the opportunity for a new form of “pragmatism and willingness to engage in dialogue in climate policy”. Terry Reintke, co-chair of the Greens in the EU Parliament, also welcomed the announcement of dialogue. “The polarization that the EPP, together with the right-wing parties, has not only brought about but downright fueled is damaging to agriculture, biodiversity and the climate”, she told Table.Media. Her group wants “joint solutions with farmers“, she said.
Specifically, the Commission President did not mention the Nature Restoration Law, the laws on pesticide use reduction (SUR), new genetic engineering, sustainable food systems or animal welfare. The revision of REACH and the laws banning the export of toxic substances banned in the EU also went unmentioned.
Europe’s climate policy efforts at the international level also went unmentioned. At the upcoming World Climate Conference in Dubai (COP28), Europe will have to do an enormous amount of convincing to ensure that other industrialized nations and emerging economies also transform their industries. Particularly in light of this year’s global stocktake – the main tool for raising the ambition of global climate goals – the absence of the topic from the speech is surprising, wrote Linda Kalcher, executive director of the pan-European think tank Strategic Perspectives, on X.
The environmental and development organization Germanwatch complains about a lack of socially just implementation of the Green Deal. “While the Commission President has identified industrial transformation as a key challenge, she should be much more specific about how she intends to further develop the Green Deal as a project in terms of a socially just transformation”, says Christoph Bals, Political Director of Germanwatch.
She was the talk of the town in 2020 when her husband ran for president in Belarus, was subsequently arrested and she took over his candidacy. Together with two other women whose husbands were not allowed to run as candidates, Svyatlana Zikhanouskaya continued in the presidential election. The election is internationally recognized as a sham, and the dubious results in favor of long-term powerholder Alexander Lukashenko sparked mass protests in Belarus. Officially, Zikhanouskaya won ten percent of the vote – but some analysts see her as the country’s elected president.
At the beginning of her political career, Zichanouskaya’s focus was predominantly on the fight for a democratic Belarus. But during her speech in the European Parliament yesterday, Wednesday, she made it clear: Her goals have only grown with the international crises. “I came here to ask for your support for a European perspective for Belarus”, the politician said. “Belarusians want to hear from you that the European Union is waiting for us.”
Quoting former Czech President Václav Havel, she said the future of Belarus is linked to the future of Europe and Belarus will one day be part of the European Union. “Let us turn this into reality”, Zichanouskaya said.
Lukashenko’s dictatorship has driven many Belarusians into exile. His challenger Zikhanouskaya therefore wants to introduce a new Belarusian passport that would give these people state recognition. The passport is modeled on those issued by Baltic states to people in exile during the Soviet occupation. “Very soon we will come to their governments and ask them to recognize our new passport”, Zichanouskaya announced in Strasbourg.
After the 2020 election, Zichanouskaya traveled to Lithuania. From there she called for peaceful protests against Lukashenko. Lukashenko, in turn, put out an international manhunt for her. When the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine began, Zichanouskaya declared herself the rightful representative of the Belarusian people. Because parts of the attack originated on Belarusian soil, the politician assumes that Lukashenko is supporting Vladimir Putin in his plan of attack.
The overthrow of Lukashenko remains the most important task for Zichanouskaya. “Murder of his competitors, torture of protesters, kidnapping of Ukrainian children, silent warfare against his own people and support of the war of aggression against Ukraine” – the list of his offenses is long. “Lukashenko does not deserve a place in international forums. All he deserves is a one-way ticket to The Hague.” Svenja Schlicht
