site.btaEuropean Economic and Social Committee President: "We Cannot Weaken Green Deal, There Is No Alternative to It"

It is a very timely moment to discuss the future path for the European view on the Green Deal; Europe cannot weaken it, there is no alternative to it, Oliver Ropke, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), said in a BTA interview here Friday. He spoke to a BTA reporter on the sidelines of the fourth edition of the Green Transition Forum in Sofia.

The event was co-organized by Dir.bg and 3E-news with BTA as media partner. 

Although Ropke declared the EESC's support for the Green Deal, he did not hide the criticisms the Committee has of European politicians and institutions.

He was adamant that making sure the phrase "nobody will be left behind" remains mere words, requires a concerted effort and huge investments so that the Green Deal is also a social deal. He expects to see a more solid commitment in support of a just transition from the new European Parliament, the Commission and also the Council. 

He sees it as "a step in the right direction" the nomination of the key leadership position by the European Council. 

He was adamant that "we cannot allow the enemies of democracy, the enemies of Europe and those who are against the greener and more just society, to prevail" and called on "all pro-European and democratic forces to work together to find compromises".

The full text of the interview follows: 

Q: What's your takeaway from the last five years? Because the Green Deal is an accent, one of the accents of the Von der Leyen Commission...

A: I think it's a very timely moment to discuss the future path for the European view on the Green Deal, because the recent European elections have sparked concerns about a potential weakening in Europe's climate policies, and we have seen this during the election campaign a lot of protests, a lot of threats against the Green Deal and I think it's the right moment to reiterate from civil society perspective that we have supported the climate targets, the emission reduction targets from the very first moment, and I think we cannot weaken it. I think there's no alternative. So it is important that we stick to the targets of the Green Deal and I saw that also the new strategic agenda by the EU leaders for the next cycle, which was adopted last night, also reiterates the commitment to these targets. So this is one important thing.

The second takeaway for me, also from this conference, is that Europe has to redouble its efforts to implement this Deal and to make it really a just deal, a social deal. Because we said from the very beginning that the Green Deal must be a social deal. Otherwise we will not achieve the target.  

These are nice words but they have to be implemented and here I think we have a lot of things to do and here I expect from the new European Parliament from the Commission and then also from the Council, to set clear commitments, because this will not be cheap. On the contrary. It requires massive investments in just transition, but also in skills to make sure that the nice phrase that no one should be left behind will be a reality. 

We should not underestimate the importance of dialogue – of civil dialogue and of social dialogue, including collective bargaining. Without strengthening this dialogue and strong involvement of civil society, we will not be able to bring people and society on board for the emission reduction targets and to achieve the Green Deal. Here, I have to say, in the new strategic agenda, I see the commitment is very weak. I wish I could see a clearer commitment to the involvement of the social society. 

Q: Were you excluded? The social structures? 

A: No. I would say so far we are not excluded. We were even involved when the European Union set up its targets and its policies. But I don't see that all our demands are really reflected in the real policies. And here I think European politicians should listen more and should involve more civil society. For example, our proposal for political framework for just transition, exactly to make sure that no one is left behind is not only an empty word, but it also guaranteed in practice, so therefore we have this concept for political framework for just transition. And we expect that our main demands will be taken into consideration. 

Q: However, the COVID crisis and the war in Ukraine led to national policies that fragmented the single market. Do you think that the principle of level playing field in the single market is under threat in the transition in which we find our societies in the EU?

A: Yes, if you don't counterbalance this development, then for sure. Because you can see that our goal of convergence - not only social, but also economic convergence - is put into question. If you don't give the necessary means for this digital and green transition - because we will see that some countries will be harder affected by the consequences of this transition than others. So we have to invest in these regions. And here I would like to mention cohesion policy. We always supported a strong cohesion policy that keeps this somehow, the glue that keeps you united. We work very closely with Commissioner Eliza Ferrera and we support the first visions for the future cohesion policy. But what we can see, there are also some threats and challenges, ideas to change cohesion policy and to reduce its capacity to make sure that the most disadvantaged regions in Europe will be supported accordingly. Here I have to say we are strong supporters of the strong cohesion policy and this is for me also a precondition for the future implementation and for a non fragmented single market because here I agree with you this you cannot, you cannot afford.

Q: What lesson should the next Commission never forget in leading the processes and policies on climate action?  

A: Well, I think the lesson is that the ambitious European policies of the last years have been supported by pro-European democratic forces. I think this is the lesson. So I really make a strong call to all pro-European and democratic forces to work together to find compromises. A good first step was the nomination of the key leadership position by the European Council. I think this was a step in the right direction, but we cannot allow the enemies of democracy, the enemies of Europe and those who are against the greener and more just society to prevail. So this is the main takeaway from my side. 

Q: The European Economic and Social Committee launched the idea of a Blue Deal in the field of water resources maintenance. Is this the missing piece in the Green agenda of the European Union? 

A: Yes, it is. For the time being Europe already has water policy, but this was rather fragmented so we have a lack of a coherent strong water strategy in Europe. That's the reason why we worked on a broad concept in the economic and social committee with a huge number of proposals. Proposals that actually show a need for a common approach to understanding water poverty and EU level because we can see that all the European member states are affected by water scarcity, heavy rainfalls and other conditions. So it is a problem for the whole of Europe and therefore we think Europe must set up a joint strategy to bring more coherence in this policy. Because we have different angles. For example, when it comes to industry, industrial policy, we can see that more and more regions are affected, that companies tend to leave regions with water scarcity. We can see that the agricultural sector is both a victim of the weather conditions, but also one of the reasons for water problems in several regions. We have also water as a fundamental right, access to safe drinking water. We can see that we have a massive need for investments in infrastructure. We see that we have in some regions up to 50% loss of water due to leaks. There is a massive need for investments. And all these points we have put together in our strong call for a European Blue Deal. 

Q: Do you think that the Blue Deal will be in the agenda of the next Commission?

A: The European Parliament joined our call for an EU Blue Deal. And I could see that President von der Leyen has also announced the Water Resilience Initiative in her speech on the State of the Union that we are still waiting for the concrete proposal. So I hope that the Commission will pick this up. We will see in which form. A comprehensive water strategy is absolutely needed and should be reflected also in the next work programme of the EC.

Q: Will an eventual Blue Deal be as challenging as the Green Deal?

A: We should take some lessons and therefore our proposals are still quite open. So we don't have, we have demands of course, but we say there should be enough space to negotiate the concrete content of the Blue Deal because it's important to find a broad consensus. I think this is a precondition of broad consensus among all stakeholders. But let's start with the key commitment for such a common approach, and then we can discuss all the different initiatives. Our proposals are on the table and we are ready to contribute and to negotiate. 

Q: What does a member state like Bulgaria need to become a policy maker rather than a policy taker?

A: I think first if all Bulgaria has made some progress and I can see that this Green Transition forum here is also a great example that Bulgaria and the stakeholders are very active in this respect. But I think when it comes to the green transition, we need to be more ambitious in all member states, including Bulgaria. For example, when it comes to skills, we need to upgrade our skills, the green skills of the workforce. Here we can see that Bulgaria is not yet matching the goals of the skills agenda. For example, 70% of adults should have at least basic digital skills by 2025. In Europe we have only around 55% and Bulgaria 35%. So I think more investments in this and more involvement of social is needed.