EU pandemic recovery will be based on a ‘green and digital strategy’, lawmakers assured

Speaking in a video meeting for the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Timmermans said: ‘We have to make sure that the investment we make takes us into the new economy. If we don’t use our investment capacity to create a sustainable economy based on the Green Deal, then we will be throwing money at the old economy. We will then not have the means to transform that into the new economy, and we will lose out twice.’

He continued: ‘We should not be under the illusion that because of [COVID-19], the climate crisis or the biodiversity crisis has gone away.’ On Twitter, he added: ‘The Green Deal is not a luxury that we drop when we hit another crisis. It is essential for Europe’s future.’ 

The comments come days before a video conference, held on 26 April by European Council members to decide how to respond to the ongoing pandemic. Members will discuss the joint roadmap for recovery, a strategy prepared by European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

The roadmap strives to ensure the well-being of all Europeans when lifting the containment measures and aims to propel the EU toward strong, sustainable and inclusive growth, based on a green and digital strategy. It also puts forward three immediate emergency safety nets for workers, businesses and member states and lays the groundwork for discussions on an EU economic recovery fund.

While all MEPs agreed that solving the health crisis is the immediate priority, many underlined the need to keep the timetable on important parts of the European Green Deal. Timmermans said the schedule for the EU Climate Law is unchanged, with a revised reduction target proposal for 2030 foreseen for September. Meanwhile, the EU biodiversity strategy and the farm-to-fork strategy remain important priorities, but would have to be delayed ‘a few weeks, but not months’.

However, some member states – including Poland, Italy and the Czech Republic – have expressed concerns that the pandemic will make it even harder to hit climate goals, and have asked the EU to ease climate policies. 

In March, Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš said: ‘Europe should forget about the Green Deal now and focus on the coronavirus instead.’ Speaking to Timermans, Italian far-right MEP Silvia Sardone argued: ‘Numerous companies are closing, many people do not know what to do next and you want to talk about plastic cups or whether we should raise our climate targets to 50% or 55%.’