We are in the midst of a climate emergency, said the co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, Teri Reintke, in the debate after Ursula von der Leyen's State of the EU speech. The German MEP heads the group, the sixth largest in the EP, together with Dutchman Bas Eickhout, BTA reported.
Reintke criticized European leaders for their response to the heat and fires in the summer. She cited more than 650,000 hectares burned and 35,000 additional deaths linked to the heat, and said there had been no emergency task force, an emergency European Council meeting or an immediate action plan. "This is not enough. This is unacceptable. We have to do better," she said.
The Greens will call for a committee of inquiry into the shortcomings in the implementation of the already adopted European Green Deal measures, Reintke announced. She called for a clear timetable for phasing out fossil fuels, a tax on excess profits so that polluters bear part of the cost, and a climate change adaptation plan backed by the necessary funding in the EU budget.
Von der Leyen also made summer heat and fires a central theme in her speech, citing 660,000 hectares burned and more than 35,000 additional deaths during heatwaves. She said the EU would not back down on its climate targets and announced a new climate resilience framework that would identify 100 of Europe's most vulnerable territories.
In closing, Reintke urged Europe not to be seen as powerless in the face of adversaries such as Donald Trump, tech oligarchs and Vladimir Putin. "Europe is strong and can be even stronger," she said, stressing the importance of allies such as Canada.