EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:EP President Tajani: “the Paris agreement is alive and we will take it forward”

EP President Tajani: “the Paris agreement is alive and we will take it forward”
ENVI
01-06-2017 - 21:44

European Parliament's President Antonio Tajani reacted to the announcement by U.S. President Donald J. Trump to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, on Thursday.

“Pacta sunt servanda. The Paris Agreement must be respected. It is a matter of trust and leadership” said European Parliament President Antonio Tajani (EPP, IT). "This Agreement is alive and we will take it forward with or without the US administration" he said.

"Those who choose to remain on the outside will miss a historic opportunity for citizens, the planet and the economy. The EU will continue to lead efforts against climate change and be a global pole of attraction for investment, innovation and technology, creating new jobs and boosting competitiveness" he added.

Environment Committee Chair Adina-Ioana Vălean (EPP, RO) also reacted to the announcement

"We deeply regret this decision, and hope that this is only ‘see you soon’ and not ‘farewell’ from our U.S. friends", said Ms. Vălean. "To ease the transition to a low-carbon economy is simply to be pragmatic. The global community is committed to the Paris Agreement. Civil society, industry and public awareness have evolved. The United States still shares our planet, and we are entitled to hope that, beyond the decision of just one man – even if he is the President of the United States – America will, in the end, come back on our side in the fight against climate change”, she added.

“In the meantime, we shall continue leading, together with China and the High Ambition Coalition. What is more, given the threat of global warming, this is a fight for multilateralism, for international cooperation, and for peace. And for we Europeans, an existential one", she concluded.

Facts

The European Parliament is currently working on three legislative measures implementing the Paris Agreement: the post-2020 carbon market (EU ETS) reform (rapporteur Julie Girling), the 2030 targets Effort Sharing Regulation (rapporteur Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy) and the Regulation on greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land-use, land-use change and forestry (rapporteur Norbert Lins).

EUROPEAN COMMISSION:Completing the Economic and Monetary Union and mobility

Completing the Economic and Monetary Union and mobility

Commission sets out possible ways forward for deepening the Economic and Monetary Union and takes action for competitive and socially fair mobility.  

Reflection Paper on deepening Economic and Monetary Union

Following the Commission's White Paper on the Future of Europe presented on 1 March, the Commission sets out possible ways forward for deepening Europe's Economic and Monetary Union.

The reflection paper presented today builds on the Five Presidents' Report of June 2015 and is intended to stimulate the debate on the Economic and Monetary Union and to help reach a shared vision of its future design.

Paying due attention to the debates in Member States and to the views of other EU institutions, the paper sets out concrete steps that could be taken by the European elections in 2019, as well as a series of options for the following years, when the architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union would be completed.

Important steps are needed to complete a genuine Financial Union, achieve a more integrated Economic and Fiscal Union and anchor democratic accountability into strengthened euro area institutions.

The options proposed in the reflection paper are intended to help build a broad consensus on how to take on the challenges ahead and to give a fresh impetus to this important debate.

For the Commission, completing the Economic and Monetary Union is not an end in itself but is needed to provide jobs, growth, social fairness, economic convergence and financial stability. Responsibility and solidarity, risk reduction and risk-sharing will have to go hand in hand. The Economic and Monetary Union should remain open to all EU Member States, and the decision-making process must become more transparent and democratically accountable.

Actions for competitive and socially-fair transport mobility in the Single Market

The European transport system is undergoing major changes: We are shifting to a more integrated and multimodal mobility system, which requires a more comprehensive and cross-cutting approach, embracing a wide range of policy areas at EU level.

Today, the European Commission has taken action to modernise European mobility and transport. The aim is to help the sector to remain competitive in a socially fair transition towards clean energy and digitisation.

'Europe on the Move' is a wide-ranging set of initiatives with which the Commission aims to shape the road and mobility systems of the future, boost competitiveness, strengthen social fairness and firmly put transport on the path towards zero emissions.

More concretely, the Commission's proposals will contribute to the reduction of air pollutants and CO2 emissions as well as noise and congestion from transport. This will improve health and living conditions of European citizens. Road users will also benefit from expected improvements in road safety due to better social conditions of professional drivers, notably proper rest periods and better enforcement.