The European Union’s ongoing work on green energy regulations and laws risks being politicized ahead of the June 2024 EU elections, Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday.
“I don’t want new files to be politicized because of the upcoming elections,” Sinkevicius said.
“I don’t want to open files and leave them in limbo,” the commissioner told Bloomberg.
The EU will hold elections for the European Parliament at the beginning of June 2024, and climate laws and regulations could become a highly politicized issue in the campaign in the midst of inflation, the energy crisis and the rise in the cost of living.
The reuse of packaging and the use of microplastics are some of the issues on which the EU may struggle to reach a compromise before next year’s elections, the commissioner told Bloomberg.
In addition, politicians in several EU states have criticized the high cost of an accelerated energy transition at a time when governments have just spent billions of euros to help vulnerable households through the energy crisis.
The EU remains committed to its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The European Parliament last month backed much higher binding targets for renewable energy by 2030 by passing the Renewable Energy Directive, a key part of the European Green Deal for the EU to become a carbon-neutral bloc by 2050.
The directive, which must be approved by EU member states to become law, raises the target for renewable energy to 42.5% of the EU’s energy consumption by 2030, up from a current target of 32%.