While the PP negotiates against time with Vox to replace Carlos Mazón at the helm of the Valencian Community, the Spanish conservatives have made from Brussels, more than 1,300 kilometers away, at least a nod to their potential traveling companions needed to form a new regional government despite the Dana disaster: in the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, the Spanish People’s Party distanced themselves from most of their European conservative partners and voted together with the climate denialist far right against the proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of 90% by 2040, a step already approved by the States and which still requires the approval of the European Parliament.
In the end, the proposal, which still has to be voted on in the plenary session of Parliament, was approved in this key committee with a large majority, including most colleagues from the Spanish People’s Party and the European People’s Party (EPP, with the exception of the Polish representatives, a Dutchman and a Slovenian woman). The votes against came, in addition to these conservatives, exclusively from far-right parties, including the Patriots where Vox is present in Brussels, as well as Giorgia Meloni’s Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN, where the ultra-German AfD is active), for a total of 32 “no” in the final vote. The yes votes, coming from most EPP members, including the Germans, as well as S&D Social Democrats, Renew liberals, the Left and the Greens, ultimately totaled 55 votes, tipping the scales in favor of the proposal, despite initially some left-wing voices calling for more climate ambition and less flexibility to achieve the goals.
Sources from the EPP group in the European Parliament justify the Spanish PP’s unconditional vote by claiming that it is a “very ambitious” and “very difficult to materialize, unachievable and very unrealistic” proposal.
“Spain has one of the oldest vehicle fleets in Europe: the best-selling car is a used car that is more than 10 years old and diesel, the houses are heated with fossil fuels. We will not reach the 2030 targets, so we understand that the best thing is to focus on that and then we will see the next steps,” the sources say.
From the PSOE, the reading made is more linked to the Spanish political immediacy, in particular the Valencian negotiations and the “fear of Vox” in complicated negotiations. In the PP “they have decided to play the role of bridge between the European PP and Patriots. They do this thinking about their electoral anxiety with Vox”, says Javi López, member of the environment commission and S&D rapporteur for the reform of the European climate law which contains the objective for 2040.
“A vote against Spain. A vote against Europe. A vote against science”, the third vice-president and minister of the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, who last week led the negotiations on behalf of Spain to convince the Twenty-Seven to approve the 90% target, commented on the Spanish conservative vote on social media.
For the Vice President of the European Commission for a clean, just and competitive transition, Teresa Ribera, this vote is a “shame”. “If they don’t trust science, trust reality,” he also wrote on social media after hearing the news.
Monday’s vote is not the final vote. The plenary session of the European Parliament still needs to give its approval to the text – the vote is expected this Thursday – so that the final debate can then be held together with the States and the Commission to approve a final text that becomes law and makes the objectives legally binding. Although there will still be internal discussions at the level of the political groups, it does not seem, however, according to the sources consulted, that the Spanish PP will change its vote in the next meeting.
