The EU’s Green Deal is not working

Michiel Hoogeveen | 7th November 2023 | Comment

The Green Deal – the flagship priority of the von der Leyen Commission for the past 4 years – is suddenly up for debate.

With European elections now less than 12 months away, political parties across Europe have woken up to the reality that the Green Deal’s proposals will increase costs, lower investment, and endanger traditional jobs and industries across the continent.

The political shift has been well-documented – Frans Timmermans’ is heading back to Dutch politics; President Macron now supports a ‘regulatory pause’; a very public fight over the Nature Restoration Law happened just before the European Parliament’s summer recess.

Those are symptoms though, not causes. The cause of the falling support for the Green Deal is much simpler: it is not working. Imposing new regulatory-driven trade barriers on everything from steel to coffee to palm oil, is increasing prices for European consumers. Subsidising inefficient and unproven technologies like e-kerosene, and trying to kill off core European manufacturing sectors, is leaving Member States with a huge bill while undermining domestic jobs and investment.

Perhaps some of the pain caused could be justified if the Commission’s approach was shown to be essential for protecting the environment. The evidence now shows that in many cases, this is not happening.

The Green Deal’s ‘Deforestation Regulation’ imposes new trade barriers on selected commodities, because they are listed as responsible for deforestation. Many of the commodities such as coffee, …

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.