Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL) and Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leaders, speak to the press.

Strasbourg

EICKHOUT, Bas (Greens/EFA, NL)

press conference

REINTKE, Terry (Greens/EFA, DE)

Greens/EFA

2024 Commissioners' hearings (T)

Press briefing by Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL) and Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leaders

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, Good afternoon. As you know, we received this morning the long awaited proposal for the new commission. And you have probably already heard that. And we also received it more in the press conference than in the Conference of Presidents, because in terms of portfolios and names, we had a very vague presentation in the Conference of presidents. So basically, we know what we know already for a very short period.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, And you probably know that from our side there are number of critical points and maybe I'm going to start with them and then I'm going to speak about what was the positive development for us today. And I mean, first of all, the fact that there is no green candidate, it is not something that is completely new, but still, it is certainly something where we will still try to see how green representation can be safeguarded, that we have a strong link between a potential commission and the European Parliament because as we have been part of the pro-European democratic majority that voted for Ursula Von der Leyen.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, And if we want to be a very integral part of the policymaking in the next five years. This will be key for us. The second point, I'm going to mention it again, and I also said it today in the Conference of Presidents. Taking into consideration that I think the president herself put a lot of effort into it. It is still a commission that is not equal in terms of gender representation. And I think that especially yesterday, there was a lot of disappointment from our side in the renomination of France. I am sure you have already asked Valerie Hayer this question, that there was no woman from France being renominated so that the gender balance could have been better than it is now.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, We have a 40/60 distribution now, which is well, it's not as bad as it was in the beginning, but it's certainly not what we would have strived for. What we find positive, however, is that the president is trying to balance that out by basically nominating more women for the executive vice president position. And the last critical point that I also think doesn't come as a surprise is the nomination of Fitto as executive vice president and the ECR group has not been part of the majority here in this House electing Ursula Von der Leyen. And also Italy abstained in the council. So we don't really see why now Italy is being rewarded getting such an influential position.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, We believe that there is a danger of moving the majorities to the right. We have had this successful cooperation before the summer break. We would like to continue that way and we are going to push for potentially in the process of the hearings to still change this. We just received the mission letter, so we haven't gone through all of them yet, as I must say. But in terms of mainstreaming of the Green Deal, of the challenge of decarbonisation, green issues, and we see a lot of positive signs from both the portfolios of the commissioners, but also what we have read from the mission letter so far.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, So the danger that I think could have happened to really make the Green Deal one silo that then doesn't interact with other aspects like, for example, industry, economy... has been avoided. And this is something that we very highly appreciate. Also, the President was pretty clear in the Conference of Presidents this morning that the Green Deal is basically a challenge for everybody in this college and that they are going to continue obviously, to fight to get what we have decided in the last legislature, but also to continue on regulating towards meeting our climate goals.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, Talking about this, I think it is impossible to speak today without mentioning the dire situation in Central and Eastern Europe when it comes to flooding, but also in Portugal when it comes to forest fires. Obviously we stand in solidarity with all the people who are impacted by this. Also the emergency services we have heard and that people are really working and to the absolute maximum to keep people safe and to avoid the worst. But basically we need to see more action also from the European level to prevent situations like this from happening.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, We are going to present a five point plan on this, obviously looking at the very important topic of climate adaptation, of water resilience and relating also to questions of cooperation in terms of emergency and early warning system, working together closely when things are happening, but also to do more to prevent at least the most extensive impacts of these extreme weather events in the future.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Greens/EFA Group Leader, And we are going to continue to push for that. As you have probably seen, we are going to have the key debate tomorrow in the morning also on this very important issue. And so we hope that with this, we can have a very constructive dialogue also in terms of how the commission is going to take care of this.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Greens/EFA Group Leader, The issue of climate change is not going away. And maybe some political groups would love to see that, but it is not going away. And unfortunately, we are seeing that reality hitting us almost on a weekly or monthly basis again. And therefore, I do think that debate tomorrow is also important. But therefore, it's also very important that, in the mission letters that of course we as Green Group also have been pushing for is that adaptation and mitigation and steps towards that. All the commissioners should contribute to mitigation and these climate targets and climate neutrality that that is all in the mission letters, including strong words on adaptation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Greens/EFA Group Leader, I think what we are seeing happening now in Central Europe is again also stressing the importance of necessary action on that, both on mitigation and on adaptation. And that will certainly also be mentioned tomorrow in debates. Maybe another point that this week, of course, will be on everyone's agenda is also that in a couple of I think in an hour, you can almost say, Draghi will present his report in the plenary. And after that, we will have a debate on the competitiveness of Europe. Again, also that is very clearly reflected in the different mission letters.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Greens/EFA Group Leader, I do think that it's very important that we as a Green group have been pushing for green industrial policies very clearly during the campaign, and therefore we are also very happy that basically the responsibility of green industrial policy is now given to two executive vice presidents and also the climate commissioner. So you really see those three, on questions how that will work in practice. Those three people need to work very closely together in putting together a very ambitious industrial green industrial policy plan. That is also very clear.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Greens/EFA Group Leader, And that was also some of the green demands that we have put forward. And we're happy that that is so prominently in the mission letters. And also, of course, following up on the Draghi report. And therefore, you can also understand that if you read some of the Draghi points that he's making about the necessity of investments within Europe, the necessity of combining decarbonisation and industrial policies, these are exactly points that we as Greens, of course, have been fighting for and pushing for.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Greens/EFA Group Leader, So we will probably also welcome that. Are we then saying that the entire report of Draghi is one green dream? No, it's not, of course. I do think that what is still underestimated is the crisis in our nature system. I do think, again, that's very well reflected in the mission letters, and I do think it's also better reflected if you look at the mission letters of both environment and agriculture. I do think that the report of Draghi is still missing that point. When he talks about the environmental challenges, he doesn't get much beyond decarbonisation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Greens/EFA Group Leader, So I think room for improvement there. And of course, if you look at the financial sector, we are a bit disappointed that the former head of the ECB is again looking at the financial sector and deregulation. I think he learned from the euro crisis that the deregulation of the financial sector also has its issues. So we're not saying that this report is a perfect report, but I do think on the main messages on tackling and what the future of Europe's competitiveness is, it's very well resonating. The messages that we have been giving on industrial policies beforehand, and that is also very well reflected in the mission letters that we were capable of reading. I think I'll leave it at that.