Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala rejected the proposed climate target for 2040 at the EU summit in Brussels last night, he told a press conference after the meeting. The proposal was for a legal target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% compared to 1990. A final decision on the target will be made at a later meeting of EU environment ministers.
At the summit, the EU leaders discussed further support for Ukraine, defence and security, as well as the EU’s competitiveness and climate ambitions.
The European Commission recently proposed a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2040 compared to 1990. The proposal was originally due to be voted on by EU environment ministers in September, but it was postponed and the debate moved to the summit at the request of France, Germany, Italy and other countries.
The summit did not make a decision on the climate target, but EU member states’ presidents and prime ministers held a strategic discussion on the issue. The decision will now again be up to the environment ministers, who will meet on 4 November.
“The debate on competitiveness also included a debate on European climate policy. Unlike my predecessor as Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, I did not commit the Czech Republic to any specific goals,” said outgoing Prime Minister Fiala. Babis is expected to replace him in office.
“On behalf of the Czech Republic, in my speech, I unequivocally rejected the proposed target of 90% by 2040,” he added. The Czech Republic, he said, had pushed through in the summit’s conclusions that any future climate targets should be accompanied by a “revision clause”.
“This means that it will be possible to reopen and change them depending on geopolitical, economic and technological developments,” the prime minister added.
Fiala also said that the summit conclusions mentioned support for the principle of technological neutrality, which also meant equal and fair conditions for the development of nuclear energy.
“This is very important, and I must say that in the four years of my government, thanks to the Czech Republic’s activity in the international arena and its activity as a member of the ‘nuclear alliance’, we have really kick-started a nuclear renaissance,” said Fiala, attending probably his final EU summit in office.
He noted that his colleagues had prepared a farewell party for him.
