Dear friends,
One year ago, European Commission President von der Leyen pledged to “stay the course” on the European Green Deal. That course has become a tightrope walk. In order to protect the Green Deal’s long-term goals, she has chosen to delay, dilute, and simplify parts of its legislation. Whether one likes it or not, this is her political reality: you cannot govern against a right-leaning majority in the Parliament and Council, and a hard shift in public opinion.
It’s the wisdom of the hitchhiker. The destination - a climate-neutral Europe by mid-century – remains unchanged. But to stay on course, von der Leyen is taking detours, making sacrifices to preserve the direction of travel. The question is whether too many detours risk losing the destination altogether (one reason, why we have our Green Deal Risk Radar).
Of course, when a detour turns into a derailment is partially in the eye of the beholder. That’s one of the central tensions at the heart of today’s Green Deal debate; distinguishing, for example, between legitimate simplification and naked deregulation, between justified concerns that deserve redress and exaggerated outcries.
Not all simplification is bad. The Green Deal, adopted with broad democratic support, including from the EPP, was at times weighed down by complexity and bureaucracy. But the current simplification agenda is turning into political theatre. From inside the machine room we hear that nearly every Commissioner now wants their own Omnibus package. It’s become a matter of political prestige. This shift from substance to style is exactly what we had warned against in our simplification report.
At the same time, some of the recent outcry is exaggerated. The Green Claims Directive, for instance, seems to be much ado about nothing. A lot of it is already covered by the existing Citizens’ Empowerment for the Green Transition law, which just turned into force last year.
A space to really watch will be the 2040 climate target, published today against the resistance of key players like President Macron. This is an important moment. Europe’s climate ambition will be tested, an issue that our office will pay attention to. In the coming weeks, we’ll publish an in-depth analysis and host a discussion to unpack what this proposal means. Meanwhile, check out the quick analysis by Jörg Mühlenhoff, our Head of Programme for European Energy Transition.
While we continue to monitor the risks facing the Green Deal, we are also broadening our focus. We launched a dedicated page on the Clean Industrial Deal on our website, featuring updates and analyses, and a new infographic highlighting the shift from Green to Clean will be added soon.
In parallel, our foundation will host its first Green Economy Day in Berlin next week, fostering dialogue with industry and financial actors. They are crucial allies and stakeholders when it comes to the Green Deal. But besides them, we are also looking at the role citizens can play in the energy transition. Together with BEUC, we co-hosted an event at this year’s European Sustainable Energy Week, where we identified concrete ideas for the upcoming Citizens Energy Package. This is an important work stream this year, where we are partnering with the Green European Foundation.
Internationally, we’ve been looking at Europe’s global trade partnerships and particularly the concept of Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships. Last week, we held a webinar on this issue and published a sharp analysis by Cláudia Azevedo from Europe Jacques Delors.
We also remain active on the geopolitical front. Ahead of the NATO Summit, we published a timely interview with MEP Sergey Lagodinsky on the transatlantic relationship, and I contributed an article reflecting on the EU’s role in what I call the "three-order problem", navigating the collapse of the geopolitical, economic and democratic orders.
Finally: we are hiring again. If you or someone you know would like to join our EU team, we have open positions for a CIP Trainee and a Student Assistant. Spread the word!
Wishing you all a restorative summer and looking forward to an autumn full of debates, decisions and, hopefully, a good direction.
Warm regards,
