This edition of European Week focuses on conversations about future EU and NATO senior officials, the passage of the Nature Restoration Act and the impact of the climate crisis on brewing.
This week, Brussels has returned to daily life after the celebration of the european elections. The new MEPs They’ve been busy taking selfies. in front of the European Parliament to show their voters that they are getting to work.
The big event of the week, however, was the summit between EU leaders after the European Parliament elections, but their meeting, which lasted seven hours, was an anticlimax for journalists, as They were unable to reach an agreement on the new senior positions from Brussels.
“I think that It is our collective duty to make a decision before the end of June. I have said it publicly several times,” declared Charles Michel, current president of the European Council.
Mark Rutte, new NATO Secretary General
But the summit turned out to be a good day for outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. He new coalition government of the Netherlands will begin his term soon, allowing Rutte focus on what will soon be his new position as Secretary General of NATO.
Rutte met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during the summit and agreed not to deploy Hungarian troops in Ukraine in spend Hungarian money on Ukrainian missions. This was enough to get the approval from Viktor Orbán that Rutte needed to lead NATO.
What did not obtain the approval of Brussels, however, was the slogan of the hungarian presidency for his next presidency of the EU Council, which will begin on July 1 and last six months, as is customary.
Copied from the Trump times, Hungary chose ‘Make Europe great again’ as his mantra to shape the EU political agenda and warn that Europe is in decline.
The new Nature Restoration Law
Meanwhile, on Monday in Luxembourg, EU environment ministers gave their final green light to a historic law that aims to restore damaged ecosystems and polluted rivers.
After years of negotiations, it is a victory for Belgium, which currently presides over the Council of the EU, although in reality the Belgian Government abstained from voting due to the divisions between the Walloon and Flemish regions.
The vote only went ahead thanks to Austria, whose Environment Minister, Leonore Gewessler, voted for, going against the line of his own Government.
“It is not only the legal case, but a long-established practice for the Austrian Government, but also something that ministers decide at Council meetings. That’s what I did today,” Gewessler said.
To find out what exactly this law will mean, we spoke with Ioannis Agapakis, an environmental lawyer at ClientEarth who has been following this law for more than four years. Agapakis is very happy with his approval.
“In practice, the law aims to restore all ecosystems in Europe need it before 2050. And to achieve this, it imposes on Member States a series of binding targets to restore a wide range of ecosystems, from forests and oceans to cropland and urban green spaces, by 2030 and until 2050,” Agapakis said.
“The first stage for Member States when implementing the Nature Restoration Law will be to present their national restoration plans before 2026. These are the plans in which they will determine the measures, but also the areas that they will choose to restore,” he stated.
“However, delaying restoration measures until 2026 it would not be advisableas this would impose greater regulatory burdens and costs on Member States,” he explained.
The farmers’ controversy
This law was not, of course, free of controversy. The farmers were against. But did they get any concessions in the end?
“Most of the negotiations revolved around to agricultural ecosystems and farmers. It is very important to note that the law does not impose any legal obligations directly on farmers. And the provisions on the restoration of agricultural ecosystems have softened considerably to reflect the realities of the sector and the requests that were made,” Agapakis said.
“Still, I would like to emphasize that reducing nature restoration to an ideological war, as happened last year, It’s quite irresponsible. Farmers are the first to experience the adverse effects of both the climate crisis as well as the crisis of the collapse of biodiversity. And they are also the first and best agents to mitigate this crisis,” added the expert.
ADVERTISING“I believe that the vast majority of the EU Green Deal legislative files have been adopted or abandoned for political reasons. There are still a couple of files that we may see come true in the coming years. For example, the review of the Directive on energy taxationas well as the review of the Marine Strategic Framework Directive,” he stated.
Agapakis added that “both instruments are quite critical in our transition towards a climate neutral and biodiverse Europe“Still, I think EU legislators and Member States will focus primarily on implementation. The EU Green Deal provided a boost, but also, ultimately, provided a series of legal tools that Member States now have in their arsenal to address the complex and intertwined crisis they face,” he concluded. .
Could climate change change beer?
One topic we haven’t talked about yet is the impact that global warming could have on beer: With summer festivals underway, scientists continue to warn that summers will be hotter, longer and drier and that could change the flavor, texture and even increase the price of the beer.
Now the beer It is highly appreciated by all Belgiansso this week could be surprising see French beer on sale in Belgian supermarkets.
Turns out Belgian brewers have been teaching their neighbors a thing or two about brewing beersince climate change also presents a challenge for the country.
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