The group coordinators of the four largest political groups also agreed to the Green Deal task package of Slovak Commissioner Maros Sefcovic. The plenary vote will take place on Thursday.
Hoekstra and Sefcovic still had to put their oral commitments from their interviews in writing. Especially Sefcovic had to clarify how and when he intends to implement the remaining Green Deal laws from his predecessor Frans Timmermans in practice.
Part of these will soon be submitted by Sefcovic to the European Parliament, and part will not yet be submitted. This is a compromise between social democrats and Greens on one side, and Christian Democrats and conservatives on the other. With this, Hoekstra and Sefcovic have also established that the Green Deal and EU climate policy will largely be upheld.
Due to this political compromise, the new animal welfare regulation is limited solely to the duration of animal transport. A previously announced ban on keeping animals in cages and the killing of day-old chicks appears to be off the table for now.
It is also accepted that plans for revising chemical use in agriculture and for sustainable food policies will be postponed. This creates space for the ‘strategic dialogue’ that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to farmers.
The consequence, however, is that there is (still?) no response to the citizens’ petition 'Save the Bee' with over one million signatures calling for a chemical ban in agriculture.
The compromise also meets the Greens’ demand for an EU climate target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90%. Hoekstra must exert himself on the world stage to establish an end date for fossil fuel use.
All these promises ensure that the EU can remain a climate front-runner and credibly express that ambition worldwide. The Commission has now committed itself to a crucial ambitious green agenda, it was said.