The European Parliament takes the first step to reject the classification of gas and nuclear as green energies

BRUSSELS, June 14 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament have rejected on Tuesday the European Commission's proposal to include gas and nuclear in the classification of green energies.

With 76 votes against, 62 votes in favor and 4 abstentions, MEPs have taken the first step to reject the taxonomy proposal that considers gas and nuclear as sustainable economic activities, although it will be the plenary session of the European Parliament that has the last word in the plenary vote between July 4 and 7.

The European Parliament and the European Council have until July 10 to decide if they want to veto the Community Executive's proposal. If a majority of 353 MEPs rejects the Brussels proposal, the European Commission will have to withdraw or modify it.

MEPs have requested that any amendment that is filed in relation to this delegated act must be subject to public consultation as well as an analysis of its impact in economic, environmental and social terms.

Last February, the European Commission presented its proposal for a taxonomy on green investments in the EU, which finally proposed including gas and nuclear in this classification, despite the rejection that its initial draft caused among its expert advisers and in countries such as Spain, as well as Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg.

The Community Executive assumed at this time the "division" generated by this reform since, as it recognized, gas and nuclear are not climate-neutral energies nor are they renewable. However, he defended their role as transition activities to achieve a decarbonized economy in 2050, something that was referred to in the second paragraph of the text.

In this regard, the MEPs recognized the role of nuclear and gas in order to guarantee the stability of the energy supply during the transition, although they defend that it does not respect the environmental criteria of sustainable economic activities.

Asked about the vote of the parliamentary committees on the Environment and the Economy, the spokesman for the Community Executive, Daniel Ferrie, said that Brussels "takes note" of the negative opinion and that it awaits "impatiently" the final pronouncement of the plenary session of the European Parliament next July. A vote against in plenary session would suppose that the norm was rejected.

"Neutrality remains our goal and we are committed to using all means to move away from carbon-intensive energies. We are aware of the sensitivities, but the delegated act is part of a set of measures to reduce our emissions", has argued the spokesman on the taxonomy standard.