On Tuesday, Belgium abstained on three of the five texts of the “Fit-for-55” EU climate package, meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.
The legislation was held up as Flanders has contested their application. Last week, Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) was vocal in her criticism of the proposals, which have been approved by the European Parliament.
However, without a green light from all its regions, Belgium was obliged to abstain from the Tuesday vote in the EU Council of Ministers.
The first proposal on which Belgium abstained was the reform of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which phases out free emissions allowances for companies as the current system of buying carbon credits is expanded to apply to road transport, buildings and fuels. Hungary and Poland voted against the motion, while Belgium and Bulgaria abstained.
🇪🇺 🌿 We have prepared a series of articles on the EU's #Fitfor55 legislative proposals to present these topics in an easy-to-understand way.
👉 In this article, we explain the financial mechanism called Social Climate Fund. https://t.co/GtcBbLV2ph — Fit for 55 - Explained (@fitfor55info) April 24, 2023
Belgium also witheld support for a Social Climate Fund (SCF), which is intended to help the most vulnerable households and micro-businesses meet the costs of the green transition. Poland likewise abstained, and the only vote against came from Finland.
Finally, Belgium had to abstain from approving the creation of a carbon adjustment mechanism at the EU’s borders. This is a kind of carbon tax on imported products, meant to prevent the relocation of EU production to countries with less ambitious climate policies. Bulgaria did the same, while Poland voted against.
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Belgium validated the agreement for cleaner shipping fuels, as well as the revision of the ETS for the aviation sector.
None of these texts required unanimity, but a qualified majority of Member States, so all five were validated.
