Last week’s polls in Strasbourg confirmed what we warned about in our article on DN Debatt. Moderates, Christian Democrats, Center Party members, Liberals and Sweden Democrats are not to be trusted. In the vote on emissions trading, the Liberal and Conservative party groups chose to rely on the European Parliament’s far right, instead of honoring the agreement in the Committee on the Environment. It’s not just a broken promise; it is a climate betrayal.
That moderates and Christian Democrats unobtrusively, the fossil fuel industry’s business in its fight to make it cheaper to emit is nothing new. Sara Skyttedal (KD) is open in her reply that raising climate ambitions is a threat to the fossil fuel industry, and during the week she warned that new negotiations on climate policy would result in even tougher climate ambitions. As usual, we and Sara Skyttedal do not agree much.
Jessica Polfjärd (M) seems to care more about Swedish clear-cutting and large-scale forest industry than the EU’s climate goals. During the negotiations, M has tried to reduce the storage of coal in forests and land to a level that is even lower than the current level. And the increase that the environment committee ensured, M and C did last week in common in deleting. All so that forestry and agriculture do not have to take responsibility for climate work.
Liberals and conservatives must start working with the Greens and the Social Democrats if we are to get anything done in the European Parliament.
Emma Wiesner (C) says she wants to save the climate. In her reply, she is proud of the agreement in the environment committee – and there we agree, the environment committee agreed was good. But the thing is that negotiators are representatives of their entire group, and must in their own group ensure support for their line. Otherwise it will just be empty words. At that point, Emma Wiesner completely failed. In the reality she refers to, liberals would rather rely on the support of right-wing extremists than with us Greens and the Social Democrats.
Last week showed clearly that liberals and conservatives must start cooperating and negotiating with the Greens and Social Democrats if we are to get anything done in the European Parliament. Broad progressive agreements on phasing out fossil cars and raising the ambitions of the EU’s carbon sink gained a majority in parliament, while weak and watered-down negotiations on emissions trading fell.
It is possible to pursue a progressive climate policy, if you wish. We Greens want it, and we really wish we had our Swedish colleagues with us. They sometimes make it sound as if they care about the climate issue, but when it comes to concrete climate policy that could realize the change, they continue to oppose and delay.
To vote for an emissions trading system which is not in line with science are waved away with arguments such as “the climate can not wait”. For them, it is more important to have a bad system in place – which will not create the necessary emission reductions we must see this decade – than to give the negotiations another couple of weeks to raise ambitions.
It is again obvious that there is only one climate party. This autumn’s election will determine which government will lead Sweden during the EU presidency next year. It may be the difference that determines the EU’s ability to live up to the Paris Agreement. Remember that when you cast your vote on 11 September.