ZAGREB, December 4, 2019 – Croatia does not stand out in the EU in terms of focusing on environmental policies but the European Greens expect it not to hamper the green transition during its presidency of the Council of the EU, the co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group in the European Parliament, Philippe Lamberts, said ahead of his visit to Zagreb.
European Parliament President David Sassoli and leaders of all political groups in the European Parliament will pay an official visit to Zagreb on Thursday to discuss with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and government members the priorities of Croatia’s EU presidency in the first half of next year.
Green topics are evidently not the focus of the Croatian presidency, Lamberts remarked in an interview with Hina.
If we want the von der Leyen Commission to be successful, all member countries will have to accept the green transition, even if they did not do it earlier, he said.
Croatia has an abundance of sun and wind compared to Belgium and one would expect, considering that it is a Mediterranean country, that it would focus on renewable energy sources, however, its energy policy is still mostly based on energy from fossil sources, Lamberts said, noting that this meant that the green awareness was not very much present among Croatian governments.
This is evidenced by other issues that Croatia is struggling with, such as waste management. If you want to go green, you have to deal with the issue of waste, starting with its reduction and maximum possible recycling, Lamberts said, noting that as far as he could understand, that had not been one of the priorities of Croatian governments so far.
He noted that one should not overestimate member states’ possibilities in shaping the EU presidency.
Presidency is primarily about the role of an organiser and a fair mediator, Lamberts said, expressing hope that the Croatian government and administration would act accordingly.
He went on to say that he was of the impression that the Andrej Plenković government would perform well, that he was satisfied Plenković had a pro-European orientation but that he was always wary of any form of nationalism and was aware that the ruling HDZ party was known as the main Croatian nationalist party. He added that he was also aware that lately the HDZ had become more pro-European and said that he welcomed it.
Lamberts also said that the Greens would continue to ask the Commission to stop supporting the project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk.
The position of the Greens is that any support from public sources should not be spent on energy from fossil sources. That does not mean that such energy should be banned overnight, but public money should be entirely invested in the transition towards green energies. If Croatia has projects related to sun, wind or similar energy, the Greens will strongly support their financing from the European budget but will not do so with regard to energy from fossil sources, Lamberts said, explaining his party group’s opposition to the Krk LNG terminal project.
At a plenary session in November the Greens in the European Parliament abstained from a vote on the new European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen.
The Greens/European Free Alliance is the fourth largest political group in the European Parliament, holding 74 of 751 seats.
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