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Green Deal: EU’s Timmermans rules out ‘break’ in the green transition

(EurActiv, 4 Jun 2023) European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, said on Friday (2 June) he was opposed to any “break” in the green transition, in a thinly-veiled critique of Emmanuel Macron’s call for a “European regulatory break” on environmental constraints.

The French president said last month that a break was necessary to help industry digest the standards of the European Green Deal, adopted in 2019.

“We are implementing what we have decided, but we must stop adding to it,” Macron said in a speech on 11 May.

“The risk we run otherwise is, basically, of being the best performers in terms of regulation and the worst performers in terms of financing,” he added.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo then rallied to Macron’s side, making the case that companies should not be “overburdened” by environmental standards.

The European Commission, meanwhile, remained silent on the matter.

No time to be paralysed

However, Timmermans, who spearheads the fight against climate change for the Commission, made clear on Friday at a conference at the Jacques Delors Institute that there was no time to lose, as the world faces “a risk of ecocide that poses a threat to the survival of humanity”.

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EurActiv, 4 Jun 2023: Green Deal: EU’s Timmermans rules out ‘break’ in the green transition