Opinion: 'The European Union's failure to meet its climate budget targets is unforgivable'
Some 72 billion euros that should have been devoted to the climate between 2014 and 2020 were not spent. It is a 'crime' against democracy, the environment and agriculture, insist Green MEPs Rasmus Andresen and David Cormand in an op-ed for 'Le Monde.'
At the end of May, the European Court of Auditors released its report on the evaluation of the 2014-2020 multi-annual budget for EU climate spending. The aim was to analyze spending and whether it had met the objectives and mandate set by the European Parliament and Council. As feared, there was a gap between declarations of intent and reality: The promised 20% of climate spending was far from being met. Only 13% of the expenditure could be attributed to actions in this area.
Yet, as early as 2011, the European Commission had announced its willingness to implement this target. In the wake of this, the European Parliament and the Council (which represents the EU 27 Member States) did the same: a minimum of 20% of climate spending was to be included in the 2014-2020 budget.
However, at least 72 billion euros are missing. As is often the case, in the face of inertia, one must not only fight to make the objectives change, but then one must fight even harder to ensure that they are achieved. The European technostructure is indifferent to climate change, but it does not like the change in its habits.
For years, environmentalists have been alerting us to the shortcomings of the calculations by the Commission, which is responsible for implementing the Union's budget. It is with good reason that we know that the Common Agricultural Policy (the Union's largest item of expenditure), which should be the instrument at the heart of the environmental transition, does not in any way respond to these issues. How can we claim to revise the Union's budget to make it more environmentally friendly when the main expenditure line remains unchanged? The Court of Auditors' report confirms this: 80% of this unspent budget should have been spent to make the agricultural sector greener.
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More information (in French) :
Surestimation des dépenses climat, l’article pour tout comprendre : https://www.davidcormand.fr/au-parlement/european-court-of-auditors-contribution-budget-climat-surestimee-72-milliards
David Cormand interpelle Johannes Hahn, commissaire européen aux Budgets, revoir la vidéo : https://www.davidcormand.fr/au-parlement/dpenses-pour-le-climat-david-cormand-interpelle-le-commissaire-europen-au-budget
Dépenses pour le climat et la biodiversité : David Cormand rappelle les manquements de la Commission : https://www.davidcormand.fr/au-parlement/audition-commission-budgets-climat-et-biodiversite