Frans Timmermans, the architect of the EU's Green Deal, warns that European voters will abandon the fight against climate change unless the wealthy contribute to the cost of transitioning to a green economy. He criticizes the initial distribution of subsidies, which disproportionately benefited the wealthy, and calls for a more equitable approach that prioritizes the needs of the poorest. Timmermans stresses the importance of solidarity and a tax system where the rich pay more to ensure the success of the transition.
European voters will abandon the fight against climate change unless the wealthy help fund the cost of going green for all, the architect of the EU’s ambitious “ Green Deal ” has said. Frans Timmermans, who now leads the Dutch Green/Labour alliance, said there was “unrest” because people were being asked to buy new boilers and cars as they struggle with rising fuel and food bills.
The first wave of government subsidies for solar panels, electric vehicles and new heating systems went to the wealthy who were early adopters, the former European Commission vice-president said. “Public money went to people who didn’t really need it,” he said. Now governments should focus help on the poorest, to quell growing support for “dishonest” radical right-wing parties promising simple solutions, he said. “The transition will be stopped by European voters” unless it had an element of solidarity and was organised like the tax system, with the rich paying more, Timmermans said. He added that many of the wealthy people supposedly going green still had high carbon footprints and consumption habits. Many poorer people by contrast were “reducing their carbon footprints out of bitter necessity instead of because they have embraced the idea”. High inflation and energy prices had forced them to cut back their consumption. Timmermans, 63, who drove transition policy in Brussels at breakneck speed between 2019-23, said policymakers should press ahead despite the backlash against some of the measures. He rejected pleas from the car industry for more time to switch to electric vehicles. Several EU leaders including Olaf Scholz of Germany and Giorgia Meloni of Italy have called for the scrapping of fines to be imposed this year for missing carbon reduction targets as the industry is already shedding jobs. EU carmakers also face fierce competition from cheap Chinese electric vehicle import
CLIMATE CHANGE GREEN DEAL EQUITY ENERGY TRANSITION EUROPEAN UNION
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