Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, has taken a swipe at the European Commissioner, Frans Timmermans, saying the ‘green’ Dutch politician will be unable to realise his dream of lower carbon emissions with what De Croo described as just hot air emanating from Timmermans’ “European bubble”.
De Croo was speaking on Wednesday evening in Moldova, where he is attending a European summit. While he said he is fully supportive of developing a ‘green economy’, agreeing that it could create jobs and technological leadership, he added: “But if we are going to realise that, if you want to reach a lower carbon emission, then that won’t happen because of big words coming from Mr Timmermans in his European bubble.
“It will be the product of our companies, our citizens who understand they need to do this, who know it will require a big effort, so I want to listen to their concerns.”
De Croo’s jab comes after Timmermans, vice-president of the EC, called for nature restoration and climate policy to be dealt with together, as outlined by what is referred to as the European green deal. The EC stalwart has previously rebuffed criticism against that policy.
“A lot of our climate policy is based on solutions coming from nature, but then nature has to be able to do that. Dead forest does not absorb CO2,” he said.
Agriculture, among other economic activities, go hand-in-hand with sound climate policy, according to Timmermans.
De Croo’s standpoint sits uncomfortably with green party members of the ruling coalition in Belgium. Kristof Calvo, one of the leading figures of the greens, regards language such as that employed by De Croo as being of “eurosceptic conservatives”. He said such protestations were unfortunate and incomprehensible. “This is not what Belgium and its government stand for,” he said.
“Vermindering uitstoot broeikasgassen zal niet gerealiseerd worden door grote woorden van @TimmermansEU in zijn Europese bubbel.”
@alexanderdecroo #terzaketv pic.twitter.com/H1BTyPSbFq— Terzake (@terzaketv) May 31, 2023
With the cost of the green deal appearing to be higher than many anticipated, opposition is growing. In the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP) has already expressed some resistance but, perhaps more importantly, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, has called on the EU to stop what he sees as its barrage of green legislation.
De Croo last week pleaded for a pause in European green legislation, saying he fears an overload and saying that, in addition to setting CO2 emission targets, a tightening of standards on such things as nature restoration will also be imposed, increasing pressure to conform on already stretched budgets.
