Roberta Metsola + Building efficiency + • Table.Briefings

Dear reader,

The building sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the European Union and is responsible for a good third of total emissions. With a recast of the Buildings Directive, the Commission wants to finally bring the “sleeping giant” into line with its Green Deal targets. In view of record-high energy prices, however, the authority also wants to combat another problem with its proposals: that of growing energy poverty. Timo Landenberger took a closer look at the plans, which also include a refurbishment obligation.

David Sassoli would have liked to remain President of the European Parliament for more than half of the legislative term – but this is unlikely to happen after the Socialists in the EP turned him down. Now all eyes are on EPP candidate Roberta Metsola. With her, after 20 years, a woman could once again be at the head of the institution. However, Metsola has not exactly made a name for herself as a fighter for women’s rights – the Maltese politician is an avowed opponent of abortion. This is causing unease not only among French MEPs, as Jasmin Kohl reports from Brussels.

European policy, the Green Deal, and digitization: Who are the most important people who will shape these fields in the new German federal government? To keep you up to date, we are continuously working on an overview of the management level of the ministries. We add new names as soon as we hear about them. Are you faster? Then we would be pleased to hear from you.

Your
Sarah Schaefer

Metsola: an anti-abortionist as president of the European Parliament?

By

Jasmin Kohl

The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have declared themselves against a new candidacy of the current President of the Parliament, David Sassoli, and do not want to put forward another candidate of their own for the election, which is due to take place during the plenary session in mid-January.

With this, they are now sticking to the agreement with the EPP group, according to which the helm of the Chamber of Deputies was to be handed over from the S&D group to the EPP in the middle of the term. The background of the decision is that Sassoli’s candidature was supported neither by the Greens/EFA nor by Renew and thus had no chance for a majority. Openly recognizable talk about it currently no one in parliament wants. “That would not have given him a nice exit,” it says to Europe.Table.

With neither the Greens/EFA nor Renew presenting their own opposing candidate, all eyes are on Maltese Roberta Metsola, who is entering the race for the EPP (Europe.Table reported). The 42-year-old has been in the European Parliament since 2013 and is currently Vice-President. With her, the institution would have a woman at the helm for the first time in 20 years – from 1999 to 2002, the French politician Nicole Fontaine was the last parliamentary president. This argument could convince the Greens in the European Parliament. They turned their backs on Sassoli above all because his “old white man” characteristics don’t exactly stand for the desired change.

EPP candidate is an avowed opponent of abortion

However, Metsola is known as an avowed opponent of abortion, which causes great discomfort, especially among French MEPs. The first president of the European Parliament, Simone Veil, had made the right to abortion her life’s struggle. 42 years later, electing an anti-abortionist to head the European Parliament would not only be a huge step backward, but would also contradict the values of the institution, they say.

Officially, the Green Group has not yet rejected Metsola’s candidacy. But how Metsola is supposed to fulfill the demand for a “feminist European Parliament” is difficult to understand. According to parliamentary circles, the French Greens/EFA delegation has therefore already decided to vote against Metsola.

A similar development could also take place in other groups: Metsola had tried extremely clumsily to put her position into perspective during a Renew parliamentary group meeting. The essence: because the majority of Maltese people are against abortion – Malta has the strictest abortion law in the EU – she could not take a different position and asked for understanding. But she is in favor of strengthening women’s rights.

Metsola is not the only candidate for the top post: the ECR group has chosen the Polish politician Kosma Złotowski as its candidate. For the left-wing GUE/NGL group, the Sira Rego of Spain is entering the race. However, neither candidate has a real chance, as the President of Parliament must have the support of an absolute majority of MEPs.

Parliamentary circles do not expect a blockade of the Maltese option, because there is simply no alternative. It is more likely that the S&D, Renew, and Greens/EFA groups will formulate further conditions that they attach to the approval of Metsola.

Building efficiency: EU Commission wants mandatory refurbishment

By

Timo Landenberger

The European Commission presented the new version of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on Wednesday. The declared goal: to make Europe’s building stock climate-neutral by 2050. However, the road is long. At the moment, the sector is responsible for 36 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Commission, 75 percent of buildings are not energy-efficient, and some experts believe the figures to be much higher. Around 85 percent of the current building stock will still be standing in 2050. With its proposal, the Brussels authority wants to drastically increase the annual renovation rate from the current level of only one percent, and there are also to be strict requirements for new buildings. This is not only intended to finally put the sector with the highest energy consumption on the Green Deal path. Renovations should also ensure less dependence on fossil fuels as well as lower bills and thus less energy poverty, according to the draft.

“Millions of people in Europe can no longer pay their energy bills,” said Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans in Brussels. These people often live in old buildings with high consumption. A building with poor insulation requires up to ten times as much heat as a state-of-the-art house. A higher renovation rate is therefore also very important against the background of record-high energy prices.

Minimum energy efficiency standards

The Commission’s proposals provide for minimum energy performance standards, which will affect about 15 percent of the building stock and trigger a wave of renovations. Accordingly, residential buildings with the lowest energy rating G must be renovated to a higher level by 2030, offices and commercial buildings already by 2027.

The EU states will be affected to varying degrees. In Italy, about a third of residential buildings have the lowest energy efficiency class G, while in the Netherlands it is only four percent. However, better thermal insulation in southern Europe is also less promising than in northern Sweden, for example, says energy law expert Christian Schneider from the law firm bpv Hügel.

The Greens in the EU Parliament welcome the step towards mandatory renovation. “It is good that the EU Commission is finally setting clear targets for the modernization of the most inefficient buildings. We call on the EU member states to put more ambition into the renovation wave,” says MEP Jutta Paulus. The German Association of Energy and Water Industries also sees the plans as basically positive. “However, it must be ensured that the specifications allow for the use of cost-effective greenhouse gas reduction options in a technology-open manner,” says BDEW Managing Director Kerstin Andreae.

Markus Pieper, energy policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU in the EU Parliament, however, fears a double burden. “It makes little sense to prescribe strict energy standards for all buildings at the same time as emissions trading makes energy costs more expensive. This makes rent and maintenance costs twice as expensive,” the MEP said. In its Fit for 55 package, the Commission proposed in July to extend the ETS to the buildings sector.

Zero-emissions building

With its proposals, the Brussels authority also wants to introduce considerably stricter requirements for new buildings. Accordingly, all new buildings are to be emission-free from 2030 onwards, and in the public sector from 2027 onwards. This means that the buildings will consume less energy, be powered as far as possible by renewable energies, and emit no CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. The energy certificate of the buildings is to indicate their greenhouse potential over the entire life cycle.

But the definition remains vague. Critics also miss out on emissions that occur during the production of building materials as well as during their transport: “The ‘Whole Life Carbon’ approach and the circular economy are essential for the decarbonization of the building sector and must be included in the EPBD without further delay. If we miss this unique opportunity, we will have a huge increase in product-related emissions today and a waste problem in the future,” says Gonzalo Sánchez, buildings expert at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

Introduction of a renovation passport

The energy certificate is intended to provide proof of the energy level and consumption, thus providing important reference points for investment, purchase, and rental decisions. The obligation to submit an energy certificate will be extended to buildings that have undergone a major renovation, among other things. The introduction of a “renovation passport” is also intended to provide more information and reduce costs. In this way, the Commission wants to provide homeowners with a tool that will make it easier for them to plan and gradually renovate towards a zero-emission level.

With its proposals, the Commission also wants to promote the use of intelligent information and communication technologies (ICT). The establishment of digital building databases is also envisaged. Too little for Markus Pieper. “A vague smart readiness benchmark and few concrete offers for industry to get involved in European standardization processes are insufficient. Consumer recording and documentation must become child’s play in buildings across Europe.”

Ukraine crisis: Scholz and Macron want to mediate

Germany and France want to stand by Ukraine in the conflict with Russia and attempt mediation. This was stated by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron during talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Selensky in Brussels. Initially, there would be further meetings between the three of them, it was said on the sidelines of the EU summit of the Eastern Partnership. As soon as possible, however, a return to the Normandy format – that is, with Russia – is planned.

The only Normandy summit in a four-way format to date had taken place in Paris at the end of 2019. Since then, tensions have continued to escalate. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stoked the conflict by sending troops. After last week’s video summit between Putin and US President Joe Biden, Germany and France are trying to revive the Normandy format. At the same time, they have increased the pressure on Putin – and threatened him with massive sanctions.

Scholz warned Russia again on Wednesday: “Any violation of territorial integrity will have a high price,” he said in his first government statement in the Bundestag. At the same time, however, the German Government was prepared to engage in dialogue with Moscow if this could help break out of the escalation spiral. This willingness to talk, however, should not be misunderstood as a new German “Ostpolitik,” the SPD politician said. “‘Ostpolitik’ can only be a ‘European Ostpolitik‘ in a united Europe.”

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is also a topic at the regular EU summit in Brussels, which Scholz is attending for the first time today. No decisions are expected on the serious foreign policy crisis. ebo/tho

TEN-E: EU Parliament and Council want to end gas and oil production

Negotiators from the EU Parliament and the Slovenian Council Presidency agreed on Wednesday on a new version of the so-called TEN-E Regulation. This is intended to align the guidelines for the promotion of the trans-European energy networks more closely with the goals of the Green Deal. The agreement reached in the trialogue negotiations still has to be approved by the member states.

Among other things, the agreement provides for the targeted promotion of the development of the infrastructure for hydrogen and other climate-friendly gases. Financial support for new natural gas and oil projects, on the other hand, is to be ended and binding sustainability criteria are to be introduced. In addition, approval and authorization procedures are to be simplified and accelerated, in particular through the creation of a one-stop-shop.

“Today’s agreement ensures that we invest in a green and climate-neutral future that guarantees efficiency, competitiveness, and security of supply, leaving no one behind,” said Jernej Vrtovec, chief negotiator and Slovenian Minister for Infrastructure.

The revision of the TEN-E guidelines is intended to update the catalog of eligible energy infrastructure projects. The negotiators placed the focus on decarbonization. However, the expansion of offshore electricity grids and the promotion of smart digital solutions are also to play a greater role. These are mainly projects of common interest (PCIs) that are eligible for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility in the period 2021-2027.

The PCI list published by the Commission in November still contained several eligible gas projects and therefore attracted much criticism. til

Commission presents CO2 reduction strategy

The EU Commission not only wants to reduce CO2 emissions but also to drive the removal of that greenhouse gas from the atmosphere in order to achieve its Green Deal targets. By 2050, every ton of CO2 equivalent emitted into the atmosphere must be offset by one ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere, it said. On Wednesday, it, therefore, presented its strategy for promoting CO2 removal methods.

The Commission is pursuing a multi-pronged approach in this. On the one hand, it wants to expand technological solutions. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) enables CO2 to be captured during industrial production processes or directly from the air and stored over a long period of time. The aim is to remove 5 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it permanently by 2030.

Carbon Capture and Usage (CCU) aims to use captured CO2 for the production of synthetic fuels, plastics, rubber, chemicals, and other materials that require carbon as a feedstock. Such a carbon cycle is intended to make industries that are difficult to decarbonize more environmentally friendly.

“Not a blank check for lack of ambition.”

However, Delara Burkhardt, environmental spokesperson for the European SPD, warned that carbon removal “must not become a blank cheque and arbitrary compensation instrument for a lack of ambition and results in CO2 reduction”. The CO2 capture strategy must therefore clarify that only unavoidable emissions in industrial processes may be removed and stored by technical means, Burkhardt said.

The second approach to removing CO2 from the atmosphere is climate-efficient agriculture. In order to exploit the carbon-binding effect of the agricultural sector, the Commission wants to compensate farmers who remove CO2 from the atmosphere through nature-based measures. By 2030, 42 million tons of CO2 are to be stored in this way. One incentive for climate-efficient agriculture is to be supported by the CAP.

The Commission intends to propose an EU legal framework for the necessary certification for CO2 reduction by the end of 2022. Norbert Lins (CDU/EPP), Chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the EU Parliament, welcomed the announcement. He said the legal framework could help “integrate carbon management into daily production.” Trading allowances must therefore start as soon as possible to provide the right incentives for the sector to become carbon neutral in 2035, Lins said. luk

Environmental crime: EU Commission wants stronger sanctions

EU member states are to be obliged to fight environmental crime. This is the result of a Commission proposal for a new directive presented on Wednesday. Environmental offenses are to be defined more precisely, a minimum level of sanctions is to be set, and cooperation between member states in a criminal prosecution is to be strengthened.

New offenses would be illegal timber trade, illegal ship recycling, or illegal water abstraction. Offending individuals, companies, and organizations could be required to reverse the environmental damage, be excluded from access to public funds and procurement procedures, or lose official permits.

“Letting lawbreakers go unpunished undermines our collective efforts to protect nature and biodiversity and tackle the climate crisis,” said Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans. It is difficult to investigate such offenses and bring them to justice, added Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries. At the same time, sanctions tend to be mild. Environmental crimes often involve several countries, the Commission said, which is why prosecutions within the EU should also be coordinated.

Therefore, the proposal aims to strengthen cross-border investigations and prosecutions. It also aims to support inspectors, police, prosecutors, and judges through training, investigative tools, and better data collection. Member states are to develop national strategies on how the measures are to be implemented and how resources are to be used for these objectives. luk

Methane regulation falls short for environmentalists

On Wednesday, the European Commission unveiled a new legislative proposal to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector. It would require companies to measure and quantify their methane emissions and to detect and repair methane leaks in their operations. In addition, the proposal bans so-called venting, whereby natural gas is simply vented for cost reasons during pipeline maintenance work, for example, as well as flaring. EU member states will also be required to draw up plans to reduce methane emissions. In particular, methane escaping from abandoned mines and inactive wells.

With its proposal, the Commission is focusing on methane emissions within the EU. However, the community of states imports more than 80 percent of the natural gas it needs (which consists of almost 90 percent methane) and 90 percent of the crude oil. For energy importers, however, the proposal only provides for an obligation to collect data and provide information. It is true that in 2025 the Brussels authority wants to review in a kind of interim report whether stricter measures for fossil fuel imports are necessary. For environmentalists, however, this is too late. They are calling for the regulations to be extended to cover the entire supply chain.

Agriculture excluded

In an initiative report on reducing methane emissions, the EU Parliament had already called for such an extension. Rapporteur Jutta Paulus (Greens) announced that she would continue to push for this. The initiative report also proposed to oblige the agricultural sector to reduce methane emissions. However, the Commission draft focuses on the energy sector. Here, methane emissions are considered to be much easier to reduce, but they account for only 19 percent. The lion’s share, 53 percent, is accounted for by agriculture.

Methane is responsible for around 30 percent of the global increase in greenhouse gases to date. In the EU, the gas accounts for only ten percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. However, in the short term – calculated over a period of 20 years – it is around 80 times more harmful to the climate than CO2. According to the United Nations Global Methane Assessment, saving 45 percent of global methane emissions by 2030 is possible and would reduce global warming by 0.3 degrees by 2045. til

Netherlands: Coalition favors nuclear energy as part of energy transition

The Netherlands may build two nuclear reactors, its government-in-waiting said on Wednesday, signaling a possible radical shift in energy policy as it seeks to keep a transition to a carbon-neutral economy on track.

The country aims to spend an extra €35 billion ($40 billion) on its energy transformation in the coming 10 years, including investments in hydrogen, heat, and electricity networks, the prospective four-party coalition said in a presentation.

“We’re taking concrete steps for 60 percent carbon dioxide reduction in 2030,” said Sigrid Kaag, leader of D66, the coalition’s second-largest party. “We’re going toward climate neutrality in 2050. We’re doing that… with green taxes, with enormous investments in renewable energy, and by getting rid of taboos not only on taxes on driving but also on nuclear energy.”

The latter will involve preparatory steps towards building two new nuclear reactors and keeping the country’s only existing nuclear plant operational for longer than planned, according to the pact. Previously, the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the conservative VVD of long-time prime minister Mark Rutte supported the expansion of nuclear energy. But they were unable to put such a policy into effect because of opposition from all other mainstream parties on safety and pollution concerns.

The coalition is formed by the parties in power since 2017, which are looking to form Rutte’s fourth consecutive administration after a record nine months without a government following an inconclusive national election in March. rtr/sas

Privacy: dating app Grindr fined millions in Norway

Norway’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) has handed dating app Grindr a reduced 65 million Norwegian crown ($7.14 million) fine over illegal disclosure of user data to advertisers, saying the company had moved to address issues regarding its practices.

The DPA’s initial plan last January was to fine Grindr 100 million crowns, but it said on Wednesday that it had reduced the amount because of new information on the company’s finances and changes Grindr has made “to remedy the deficiencies in their previous consent-management platform”.

“Our conclusion is that Grindr has disclosed user data to third parties for behavioral advertisement without a legal basis,” Tobias Judin, head of the DPA’s international department, said in a statement. He said the agency, also known as Datatilsynet, concluded that user consent collected by Grindr between July 2018 and April 2020 for the use of private data was not valid.

The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) had found in April 2018 that Grindr shared user details about HIV status with third parties, and in January 2020 filed a complaint with the data protection regulator that Grindr had shared detailed user data with third parties involved in advertising and profiling. The data included personal details such as IP addresses, GPS locations, age, and gender of the dating app’s users, according to Forbrukerrådet. Grindr’s service is aimed particularly at same-sex and transgender users.

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out guidelines for the collection, processing, and transfer of personal data within the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). It therefore also applies in Norway, which is part of the EEA but not the EU. rtr/sas

Companies want to develop CO2 storage off Norway

Five companies have applied to build CO2 storage facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf, the Norwegian Oil and Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.

In September, the ministry had proposed two offshore areas, one in the North Sea and one in the Arctic Barents Sea, for companies interested in developing CO2 storage under the seabed. This is a technology that makes it possible to capture greenhouse gas and store it underground.

The five companies that applied by December 9th were Shell, Equinor, Horizon Energy, Northern Lights, and Vaar Energi, the ministry said in a statement. The plan is to award the offshore sites for CO2 storage in the first half of 2022. rtr

Can the digital political awakening succeed?

By Stefan Heumann

Stefan Heumann, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung — Stefan Heumann is a member of the board of the Foundation for New Responsibility

In recent years, the digital policy debate in Germany has been dominated by headlines about failed IT projects and the ever-growing gap between Germany and European leaders such as Denmark, Finland, and Estonia. The new federal government now finally wants to initiate a long-awaited turnaround and promises a comprehensive digital awakening in the coalition agreement. But who is to be responsible for this change?

In the run-up to the Bundestag elections, two models were discussed in Berlin. Proponents of a digital ministry hoped to bundle central digital topics in one house and to have a strong voice for digital at the cabinet table. As a counter-proposal, a stronger role for the Chancellor’s Office in coordinating the government’s digital policy projects was discussed. To this end, competencies and resources in the Chancellor’s Office should be further expanded.

BMDV will not become a real digital ministry

Last week, the traffic light coalition surprised some with a completely different approach – neither a digital ministry nor a strengthening of the Chancellor’s Office. With its new responsibility for national, EU-wide, and international digital policy, for telecommunications regulation, and the operational projects of digital policy, the Federal Ministry of Transport will be significantly upgraded so that in the future it will have digital before transport in its name (BMDV).

Even with the new competencies, however, the BMDV is far from being able to pass as a “real” digital ministry. Above all, it lacks responsibility for the digitization of the administration, which remains in the Ministry of the Interior alongside responsibility for cybersecurity issues.

With responsibility for the most important industrial policy digital project of the last legislative period, the GAIA-X cloud project, and for start-ups anchored in the AI staff, central economic policy digital topics remain in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The Ministry of the Environment (digital consumer protection), the Ministry of Labour (digital world of work), the Ministry of Research and Education (research funding for digital technologies, Digital Pact), and the Federal Foreign Office (digital foreign policy) also have an important say in the development and implementation of the digital policy agenda.

Supporters of a digital ministry in particular are critical of this broad distribution of competencies. However, digitization is a cross-cutting issue. Centralizing digital issues in one house, in other words, a kind of super ministry, was never realistic. After all, none of the coalition partners is prepared to hand over this important topic completely. In addition, such a reorganization would not only have cost a lot of time but would also have involved the withdrawal of valuable digital competencies from the other ministries.

Sensible redesigns – but key issues remain dispersed

The distribution of competencies between the ministries set out in the organizational decree reflects above all two not always compatible efforts: to regulate the allocation of competencies more clearly and better and to satisfy the interests of the negotiating parties. The former has been achieved, for example, in the bundling of broadband expansion and telecommunications regulation in the BMDV. The assignment of consumer protection to the Ministry of the Environment also makes sense, above all in terms of content and organization.

With party-political glasses on, many see the FDP as the real winner of the negotiations. With its focus on climate and foreign policy, however, it was clear even before the negotiations began that the Greens would have to concede a strong role to the SPD and the FDP on digital issues. The SPD has relinquished the Chancellor’s Office’s powers of coordination. At the same time, it occupies a key ministry for digital policy with the Ministry of the Interior and the responsibilities for administrative digitization and cyber security anchored there.

In view of the rejection of a digital ministry, the diminished role of the Chancellery raises the biggest questions for many. Yet this decision is consistent in itself and holds advantages. If Olaf Scholz does not see himself as a driver of digital issues, it would be fatal if he had brought them into the chancellery purely out of a power calculation. The departmental sovereignty also limits the Chancellery’s ability to influence coordination and implementation.

The Greens and the FDP understandably have little interest in weakening the power of the ministries in favor of the Chancellery. Moreover, recent years have shown that current crises rather than major transformation issues dominate the Chancellor’s agenda. In view of the ongoing COVID pandemic and a multitude of international conflicts, it is not very realistic that this will change.

Joint Digital Policy Project

In the traffic light government, the responsibility for a successful digital policy now lies with the line ministries and thus with the question of whether the coalition really succeeds in defining government responsibility as a joint project and not as a competition between the coalition partners. The negotiations have shown that the traffic light government could establish a new style of government. However, it must now transfer this cooperative style from the negotiations into the practice of government work.

The coalition agreement contains important points in this regard. These include the opening of the legislative process for better interdepartmental exchange and the integration of external expertise, the evaluation, and evidence-based policy measures, and the long-overdue modernization of the administration. Here, in the lowlands of processes, structures, and culture of government and administrative action, it will be decided whether the traffic light coalition will succeed in the hoped-for digital awakening.

According to Olaf Scholz, European policy has long ceased to be foreign policy. “European policy has become a large part of our domestic policy. It is a remarkable sentence that the new Chancellor said in his first government statement in the Bundestag. After all, for most Berlin politicians, Brussels is quite far away.

However, Scholz had already been speaking for well over an hour at this point, and his concentration was beginning to wane somewhat. He had explained in detail the plans of his “progress government” for the restructuring of the country and the economy without making any reference to the corresponding EU projects. Only the Fit for 55 climate package was mentioned in one sentence when Scholz promised to “actively support” the European Commission in its implementation.

Behavioral patterns just don’t change overnight. Yet, this does not detract from the remarkably pro-European stance of the traffic light coalition. “The success of Europe is our most important national concern,” said Scholz. To this end, he would persistently build bridges, as his predecessor and her predecessors had done.

Many of these great bridge builders were CDU chancellors. But Scholz is not the only one to worry that the CDU/CSU in opposition and under a CDU party leader Friedrich Merz could take a course more reminiscent of the AfD than of Angela Merkel or Helmut Kohl. The pro-European orientation of all democratic parties in the Bundestag is “a treasure” that must be preserved, Scholz warned. That, too, is a remarkable sentence. Till Hoppe

EUROPE.TABLE EDITORS

Till
Hoppe

Charlotte
Wirth

Falk
Steiner

Timo
Landenberger

Corinna
Visser

Lukas
Knigge

Eric
Bonse

Sarah
Schaefer

Manuel
Berkel

Lisa-Martina
Klein

Markus
Grabitz

Stephan
Israel

Claire
Stam

Dear reader,

The building sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the European Union and is responsible for a good third of total emissions. With a recast of the Buildings Directive, the Commission wants to finally bring the “sleeping giant” into line with its Green Deal targets. In view of record-high energy prices, however, the authority also wants to combat another problem with its proposals: that of growing energy poverty. Timo Landenberger took a closer look at the plans, which also include a refurbishment obligation.

David Sassoli would have liked to remain President of the European Parliament for more than half of the legislative term – but this is unlikely to happen after the Socialists in the EP turned him down. Now all eyes are on EPP candidate Roberta Metsola. With her, after 20 years, a woman could once again be at the head of the institution. However, Metsola has not exactly made a name for herself as a fighter for women’s rights – the Maltese politician is an avowed opponent of abortion. This is causing unease not only among French MEPs, as Jasmin Kohl reports from Brussels.

European policy, the Green Deal, and digitization: Who are the most important people who will shape these fields in the new German federal government? To keep you up to date, we are continuously working on an overview of the management level of the ministries. We add new names as soon as we hear about them. Are you faster? Then we would be pleased to hear from you.

Your
Sarah Schaefer

Metsola: an anti-abortionist as president of the European Parliament?

By

Jasmin Kohl

The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have declared themselves against a new candidacy of the current President of the Parliament, David Sassoli, and do not want to put forward another candidate of their own for the election, which is due to take place during the plenary session in mid-January.

With this, they are now sticking to the agreement with the EPP group, according to which the helm of the Chamber of Deputies was to be handed over from the S&D group to the EPP in the middle of the term. The background of the decision is that Sassoli’s candidature was supported neither by the Greens/EFA nor by Renew and thus had no chance for a majority. Openly recognizable talk about it currently no one in parliament wants. “That would not have given him a nice exit,” it says to Europe.Table.

With neither the Greens/EFA nor Renew presenting their own opposing candidate, all eyes are on Maltese Roberta Metsola, who is entering the race for the EPP (Europe.Table reported). The 42-year-old has been in the European Parliament since 2013 and is currently Vice-President. With her, the institution would have a woman at the helm for the first time in 20 years – from 1999 to 2002, the French politician Nicole Fontaine was the last parliamentary president. This argument could convince the Greens in the European Parliament. They turned their backs on Sassoli above all because his “old white man” characteristics don’t exactly stand for the desired change.

EPP candidate is an avowed opponent of abortion

However, Metsola is known as an avowed opponent of abortion, which causes great discomfort, especially among French MEPs. The first president of the European Parliament, Simone Veil, had made the right to abortion her life’s struggle. 42 years later, electing an anti-abortionist to head the European Parliament would not only be a huge step backward, but would also contradict the values of the institution, they say.

Officially, the Green Group has not yet rejected Metsola’s candidacy. But how Metsola is supposed to fulfill the demand for a “feminist European Parliament” is difficult to understand. According to parliamentary circles, the French Greens/EFA delegation has therefore already decided to vote against Metsola.

A similar development could also take place in other groups: Metsola had tried extremely clumsily to put her position into perspective during a Renew parliamentary group meeting. The essence: because the majority of Maltese people are against abortion – Malta has the strictest abortion law in the EU – she could not take a different position and asked for understanding. But she is in favor of strengthening women’s rights.

Metsola is not the only candidate for the top post: the ECR group has chosen the Polish politician Kosma Złotowski as its candidate. For the left-wing GUE/NGL group, the Sira Rego of Spain is entering the race. However, neither candidate has a real chance, as the President of Parliament must have the support of an absolute majority of MEPs.

Parliamentary circles do not expect a blockade of the Maltese option, because there is simply no alternative. It is more likely that the S&D, Renew, and Greens/EFA groups will formulate further conditions that they attach to the approval of Metsola.

Building efficiency: EU Commission wants mandatory refurbishment

By

Timo Landenberger

The European Commission presented the new version of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on Wednesday. The declared goal: to make Europe’s building stock climate-neutral by 2050. However, the road is long. At the moment, the sector is responsible for 36 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Commission, 75 percent of buildings are not energy-efficient, and some experts believe the figures to be much higher. Around 85 percent of the current building stock will still be standing in 2050. With its proposal, the Brussels authority wants to drastically increase the annual renovation rate from the current level of only one percent, and there are also to be strict requirements for new buildings. This is not only intended to finally put the sector with the highest energy consumption on the Green Deal path. Renovations should also ensure less dependence on fossil fuels as well as lower bills and thus less energy poverty, according to the draft.

“Millions of people in Europe can no longer pay their energy bills,” said Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans in Brussels. These people often live in old buildings with high consumption. A building with poor insulation requires up to ten times as much heat as a state-of-the-art house. A higher renovation rate is therefore also very important against the background of record-high energy prices.

Minimum energy efficiency standards

The Commission’s proposals provide for minimum energy performance standards, which will affect about 15 percent of the building stock and trigger a wave of renovations. Accordingly, residential buildings with the lowest energy rating G must be renovated to a higher level by 2030, offices and commercial buildings already by 2027.

The EU states will be affected to varying degrees. In Italy, about a third of residential buildings have the lowest energy efficiency class G, while in the Netherlands it is only four percent. However, better thermal insulation in southern Europe is also less promising than in northern Sweden, for example, says energy law expert Christian Schneider from the law firm bpv Hügel.

The Greens in the EU Parliament welcome the step towards mandatory renovation. “It is good that the EU Commission is finally setting clear targets for the modernization of the most inefficient buildings. We call on the EU member states to put more ambition into the renovation wave,” says MEP Jutta Paulus. The German Association of Energy and Water Industries also sees the plans as basically positive. “However, it must be ensured that the specifications allow for the use of cost-effective greenhouse gas reduction options in a technology-open manner,” says BDEW Managing Director Kerstin Andreae.

Markus Pieper, energy policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU in the EU Parliament, however, fears a double burden. “It makes little sense to prescribe strict energy standards for all buildings at the same time as emissions trading makes energy costs more expensive. This makes rent and maintenance costs twice as expensive,” the MEP said. In its Fit for 55 package, the Commission proposed in July to extend the ETS to the buildings sector.

Zero-emissions building

With its proposals, the Brussels authority also wants to introduce considerably stricter requirements for new buildings. Accordingly, all new buildings are to be emission-free from 2030 onwards, and in the public sector from 2027 onwards. This means that the buildings will consume less energy, be powered as far as possible by renewable energies, and emit no CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. The energy certificate of the buildings is to indicate their greenhouse potential over the entire life cycle.

But the definition remains vague. Critics also miss out on emissions that occur during the production of building materials as well as during their transport: “The ‘Whole Life Carbon’ approach and the circular economy are essential for the decarbonization of the building sector and must be included in the EPBD without further delay. If we miss this unique opportunity, we will have a huge increase in product-related emissions today and a waste problem in the future,” says Gonzalo Sánchez, buildings expert at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

Introduction of a renovation passport

The energy certificate is intended to provide proof of the energy level and consumption, thus providing important reference points for investment, purchase, and rental decisions. The obligation to submit an energy certificate will be extended to buildings that have undergone a major renovation, among other things. The introduction of a “renovation passport” is also intended to provide more information and reduce costs. In this way, the Commission wants to provide homeowners with a tool that will make it easier for them to plan and gradually renovate towards a zero-emission level.

With its proposals, the Commission also wants to promote the use of intelligent information and communication technologies (ICT). The establishment of digital building databases is also envisaged. Too little for Markus Pieper. “A vague smart readiness benchmark and few concrete offers for industry to get involved in European standardization processes are insufficient. Consumer recording and documentation must become child’s play in buildings across Europe.”

Ukraine crisis: Scholz and Macron want to mediate

Germany and France want to stand by Ukraine in the conflict with Russia and attempt mediation. This was stated by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron during talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Selensky in Brussels. Initially, there would be further meetings between the three of them, it was said on the sidelines of the EU summit of the Eastern Partnership. As soon as possible, however, a return to the Normandy format – that is, with Russia – is planned.

The only Normandy summit in a four-way format to date had taken place in Paris at the end of 2019. Since then, tensions have continued to escalate. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stoked the conflict by sending troops. After last week’s video summit between Putin and US President Joe Biden, Germany and France are trying to revive the Normandy format. At the same time, they have increased the pressure on Putin – and threatened him with massive sanctions.

Scholz warned Russia again on Wednesday: “Any violation of territorial integrity will have a high price,” he said in his first government statement in the Bundestag. At the same time, however, the German Government was prepared to engage in dialogue with Moscow if this could help break out of the escalation spiral. This willingness to talk, however, should not be misunderstood as a new German “Ostpolitik,” the SPD politician said. “‘Ostpolitik’ can only be a ‘European Ostpolitik‘ in a united Europe.”

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is also a topic at the regular EU summit in Brussels, which Scholz is attending for the first time today. No decisions are expected on the serious foreign policy crisis. ebo/tho

TEN-E: EU Parliament and Council want to end gas and oil production

Negotiators from the EU Parliament and the Slovenian Council Presidency agreed on Wednesday on a new version of the so-called TEN-E Regulation. This is intended to align the guidelines for the promotion of the trans-European energy networks more closely with the goals of the Green Deal. The agreement reached in the trialogue negotiations still has to be approved by the member states.

Among other things, the agreement provides for the targeted promotion of the development of the infrastructure for hydrogen and other climate-friendly gases. Financial support for new natural gas and oil projects, on the other hand, is to be ended and binding sustainability criteria are to be introduced. In addition, approval and authorization procedures are to be simplified and accelerated, in particular through the creation of a one-stop-shop.

“Today’s agreement ensures that we invest in a green and climate-neutral future that guarantees efficiency, competitiveness, and security of supply, leaving no one behind,” said Jernej Vrtovec, chief negotiator and Slovenian Minister for Infrastructure.

The revision of the TEN-E guidelines is intended to update the catalog of eligible energy infrastructure projects. The negotiators placed the focus on decarbonization. However, the expansion of offshore electricity grids and the promotion of smart digital solutions are also to play a greater role. These are mainly projects of common interest (PCIs) that are eligible for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility in the period 2021-2027.

The PCI list published by the Commission in November still contained several eligible gas projects and therefore attracted much criticism. til

Commission presents CO2 reduction strategy

The EU Commission not only wants to reduce CO2 emissions but also to drive the removal of that greenhouse gas from the atmosphere in order to achieve its Green Deal targets. By 2050, every ton of CO2 equivalent emitted into the atmosphere must be offset by one ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere, it said. On Wednesday, it, therefore, presented its strategy for promoting CO2 removal methods.

The Commission is pursuing a multi-pronged approach in this. On the one hand, it wants to expand technological solutions. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) enables CO2 to be captured during industrial production processes or directly from the air and stored over a long period of time. The aim is to remove 5 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it permanently by 2030.

Carbon Capture and Usage (CCU) aims to use captured CO2 for the production of synthetic fuels, plastics, rubber, chemicals, and other materials that require carbon as a feedstock. Such a carbon cycle is intended to make industries that are difficult to decarbonize more environmentally friendly.

“Not a blank check for lack of ambition.”

However, Delara Burkhardt, environmental spokesperson for the European SPD, warned that carbon removal “must not become a blank cheque and arbitrary compensation instrument for a lack of ambition and results in CO2 reduction”. The CO2 capture strategy must therefore clarify that only unavoidable emissions in industrial processes may be removed and stored by technical means, Burkhardt said.

The second approach to removing CO2 from the atmosphere is climate-efficient agriculture. In order to exploit the carbon-binding effect of the agricultural sector, the Commission wants to compensate farmers who remove CO2 from the atmosphere through nature-based measures. By 2030, 42 million tons of CO2 are to be stored in this way. One incentive for climate-efficient agriculture is to be supported by the CAP.

The Commission intends to propose an EU legal framework for the necessary certification for CO2 reduction by the end of 2022. Norbert Lins (CDU/EPP), Chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the EU Parliament, welcomed the announcement. He said the legal framework could help “integrate carbon management into daily production.” Trading allowances must therefore start as soon as possible to provide the right incentives for the sector to become carbon neutral in 2035, Lins said. luk

Environmental crime: EU Commission wants stronger sanctions

EU member states are to be obliged to fight environmental crime. This is the result of a Commission proposal for a new directive presented on Wednesday. Environmental offenses are to be defined more precisely, a minimum level of sanctions is to be set, and cooperation between member states in a criminal prosecution is to be strengthened.

New offenses would be illegal timber trade, illegal ship recycling, or illegal water abstraction. Offending individuals, companies, and organizations could be required to reverse the environmental damage, be excluded from access to public funds and procurement procedures, or lose official permits.

“Letting lawbreakers go unpunished undermines our collective efforts to protect nature and biodiversity and tackle the climate crisis,” said Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans. It is difficult to investigate such offenses and bring them to justice, added Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries. At the same time, sanctions tend to be mild. Environmental crimes often involve several countries, the Commission said, which is why prosecutions within the EU should also be coordinated.

Therefore, the proposal aims to strengthen cross-border investigations and prosecutions. It also aims to support inspectors, police, prosecutors, and judges through training, investigative tools, and better data collection. Member states are to develop national strategies on how the measures are to be implemented and how resources are to be used for these objectives. luk

Methane regulation falls short for environmentalists

On Wednesday, the European Commission unveiled a new legislative proposal to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector. It would require companies to measure and quantify their methane emissions and to detect and repair methane leaks in their operations. In addition, the proposal bans so-called venting, whereby natural gas is simply vented for cost reasons during pipeline maintenance work, for example, as well as flaring. EU member states will also be required to draw up plans to reduce methane emissions. In particular, methane escaping from abandoned mines and inactive wells.

With its proposal, the Commission is focusing on methane emissions within the EU. However, the community of states imports more than 80 percent of the natural gas it needs (which consists of almost 90 percent methane) and 90 percent of the crude oil. For energy importers, however, the proposal only provides for an obligation to collect data and provide information. It is true that in 2025 the Brussels authority wants to review in a kind of interim report whether stricter measures for fossil fuel imports are necessary. For environmentalists, however, this is too late. They are calling for the regulations to be extended to cover the entire supply chain.

Agriculture excluded

In an initiative report on reducing methane emissions, the EU Parliament had already called for such an extension. Rapporteur Jutta Paulus (Greens) announced that she would continue to push for this. The initiative report also proposed to oblige the agricultural sector to reduce methane emissions. However, the Commission draft focuses on the energy sector. Here, methane emissions are considered to be much easier to reduce, but they account for only 19 percent. The lion’s share, 53 percent, is accounted for by agriculture.

Methane is responsible for around 30 percent of the global increase in greenhouse gases to date. In the EU, the gas accounts for only ten percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. However, in the short term – calculated over a period of 20 years – it is around 80 times more harmful to the climate than CO2. According to the United Nations Global Methane Assessment, saving 45 percent of global methane emissions by 2030 is possible and would reduce global warming by 0.3 degrees by 2045. til

Netherlands: Coalition favors nuclear energy as part of energy transition

The Netherlands may build two nuclear reactors, its government-in-waiting said on Wednesday, signaling a possible radical shift in energy policy as it seeks to keep a transition to a carbon-neutral economy on track.

The country aims to spend an extra €35 billion ($40 billion) on its energy transformation in the coming 10 years, including investments in hydrogen, heat, and electricity networks, the prospective four-party coalition said in a presentation.

“We’re taking concrete steps for 60 percent carbon dioxide reduction in 2030,” said Sigrid Kaag, leader of D66, the coalition’s second-largest party. “We’re going toward climate neutrality in 2050. We’re doing that… with green taxes, with enormous investments in renewable energy, and by getting rid of taboos not only on taxes on driving but also on nuclear energy.”

The latter will involve preparatory steps towards building two new nuclear reactors and keeping the country’s only existing nuclear plant operational for longer than planned, according to the pact. Previously, the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the conservative VVD of long-time prime minister Mark Rutte supported the expansion of nuclear energy. But they were unable to put such a policy into effect because of opposition from all other mainstream parties on safety and pollution concerns.

The coalition is formed by the parties in power since 2017, which are looking to form Rutte’s fourth consecutive administration after a record nine months without a government following an inconclusive national election in March. rtr/sas

Privacy: dating app Grindr fined millions in Norway

Norway’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) has handed dating app Grindr a reduced 65 million Norwegian crown ($7.14 million) fine over illegal disclosure of user data to advertisers, saying the company had moved to address issues regarding its practices.

The DPA’s initial plan last January was to fine Grindr 100 million crowns, but it said on Wednesday that it had reduced the amount because of new information on the company’s finances and changes Grindr has made “to remedy the deficiencies in their previous consent-management platform”.

“Our conclusion is that Grindr has disclosed user data to third parties for behavioral advertisement without a legal basis,” Tobias Judin, head of the DPA’s international department, said in a statement. He said the agency, also known as Datatilsynet, concluded that user consent collected by Grindr between July 2018 and April 2020 for the use of private data was not valid.

The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) had found in April 2018 that Grindr shared user details about HIV status with third parties, and in January 2020 filed a complaint with the data protection regulator that Grindr had shared detailed user data with third parties involved in advertising and profiling. The data included personal details such as IP addresses, GPS locations, age, and gender of the dating app’s users, according to Forbrukerrådet. Grindr’s service is aimed particularly at same-sex and transgender users.

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out guidelines for the collection, processing, and transfer of personal data within the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). It therefore also applies in Norway, which is part of the EEA but not the EU. rtr/sas

Companies want to develop CO2 storage off Norway

Five companies have applied to build CO2 storage facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf, the Norwegian Oil and Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.

In September, the ministry had proposed two offshore areas, one in the North Sea and one in the Arctic Barents Sea, for companies interested in developing CO2 storage under the seabed. This is a technology that makes it possible to capture greenhouse gas and store it underground.

The five companies that applied by December 9th were Shell, Equinor, Horizon Energy, Northern Lights, and Vaar Energi, the ministry said in a statement. The plan is to award the offshore sites for CO2 storage in the first half of 2022. rtr

Can the digital political awakening succeed?

By Stefan Heumann

In recent years, the digital policy debate in Germany has been dominated by headlines about failed IT projects and the ever-growing gap between Germany and European leaders such as Denmark, Finland, and Estonia. The new federal government now finally wants to initiate a long-awaited turnaround and promises a comprehensive digital awakening in the coalition agreement. But who is to be responsible for this change?

In the run-up to the Bundestag elections, two models were discussed in Berlin. Proponents of a digital ministry hoped to bundle central digital topics in one house and to have a strong voice for digital at the cabinet table. As a counter-proposal, a stronger role for the Chancellor’s Office in coordinating the government’s digital policy projects was discussed. To this end, competencies and resources in the Chancellor’s Office should be further expanded.

BMDV will not become a real digital ministry

Last week, the traffic light coalition surprised some with a completely different approach – neither a digital ministry nor a strengthening of the Chancellor’s Office. With its new responsibility for national, EU-wide, and international digital policy, for telecommunications regulation, and the operational projects of digital policy, the Federal Ministry of Transport will be significantly upgraded so that in the future it will have digital before transport in its name (BMDV).

Even with the new competencies, however, the BMDV is far from being able to pass as a “real” digital ministry. Above all, it lacks responsibility for the digitization of the administration, which remains in the Ministry of the Interior alongside responsibility for cybersecurity issues.

With responsibility for the most important industrial policy digital project of the last legislative period, the GAIA-X cloud project, and for start-ups anchored in the AI staff, central economic policy digital topics remain in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The Ministry of the Environment (digital consumer protection), the Ministry of Labour (digital world of work), the Ministry of Research and Education (research funding for digital technologies, Digital Pact), and the Federal Foreign Office (digital foreign policy) also have an important say in the development and implementation of the digital policy agenda.

Supporters of a digital ministry in particular are critical of this broad distribution of competencies. However, digitization is a cross-cutting issue. Centralizing digital issues in one house, in other words, a kind of super ministry, was never realistic. After all, none of the coalition partners is prepared to hand over this important topic completely. In addition, such a reorganization would not only have cost a lot of time but would also have involved the withdrawal of valuable digital competencies from the other ministries.

Sensible redesigns – but key issues remain dispersed

The distribution of competencies between the ministries set out in the organizational decree reflects above all two not always compatible efforts: to regulate the allocation of competencies more clearly and better and to satisfy the interests of the negotiating parties. The former has been achieved, for example, in the bundling of broadband expansion and telecommunications regulation in the BMDV. The assignment of consumer protection to the Ministry of the Environment also makes sense, above all in terms of content and organization.

With party-political glasses on, many see the FDP as the real winner of the negotiations. With its focus on climate and foreign policy, however, it was clear even before the negotiations began that the Greens would have to concede a strong role to the SPD and the FDP on digital issues. The SPD has relinquished the Chancellor’s Office’s powers of coordination. At the same time, it occupies a key ministry for digital policy with the Ministry of the Interior and the responsibilities for administrative digitization and cyber security anchored there.

In view of the rejection of a digital ministry, the diminished role of the Chancellery raises the biggest questions for many. Yet this decision is consistent in itself and holds advantages. If Olaf Scholz does not see himself as a driver of digital issues, it would be fatal if he had brought them into the chancellery purely out of a power calculation. The departmental sovereignty also limits the Chancellery’s ability to influence coordination and implementation.

The Greens and the FDP understandably have little interest in weakening the power of the ministries in favor of the Chancellery. Moreover, recent years have shown that current crises rather than major transformation issues dominate the Chancellor’s agenda. In view of the ongoing COVID pandemic and a multitude of international conflicts, it is not very realistic that this will change.

Joint Digital Policy Project

In the traffic light government, the responsibility for a successful digital policy now lies with the line ministries and thus with the question of whether the coalition really succeeds in defining government responsibility as a joint project and not as a competition between the coalition partners. The negotiations have shown that the traffic light government could establish a new style of government. However, it must now transfer this cooperative style from the negotiations into the practice of government work.

The coalition agreement contains important points in this regard. These include the opening of the legislative process for better interdepartmental exchange and the integration of external expertise, the evaluation, and evidence-based policy measures, and the long-overdue modernization of the administration. Here, in the lowlands of processes, structures, and culture of government and administrative action, it will be decided whether the traffic light coalition will succeed in the hoped-for digital awakening.

According to Olaf Scholz, European policy has long ceased to be foreign policy. “European policy has become a large part of our domestic policy. It is a remarkable sentence that the new Chancellor said in his first government statement in the Bundestag. After all, for most Berlin politicians, Brussels is quite far away.

However, Scholz had already been speaking for well over an hour at this point, and his concentration was beginning to wane somewhat. He had explained in detail the plans of his “progress government” for the restructuring of the country and the economy without making any reference to the corresponding EU projects. Only the Fit for 55 climate package was mentioned in one sentence when Scholz promised to “actively support” the European Commission in its implementation.

Behavioral patterns just don’t change overnight. Yet, this does not detract from the remarkably pro-European stance of the traffic light coalition. “The success of Europe is our most important national concern,” said Scholz. To this end, he would persistently build bridges, as his predecessor and her predecessors had done.

Many of these great bridge builders were CDU chancellors. But Scholz is not the only one to worry that the CDU/CSU in opposition and under a CDU party leader Friedrich Merz could take a course more reminiscent of the AfD than of Angela Merkel or Helmut Kohl. The pro-European orientation of all democratic parties in the Bundestag is “a treasure” that must be preserved, Scholz warned. That, too, is a remarkable sentence. Till Hoppe