Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 15 and 16 October 2020, in particular the negotiations of the future relations with the UK (debate)
Speaker: Ska KELLER (Germany, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Date: 2020-10-21

  Ska Keller,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, with regard to climate, those were very poor Council conclusions indeed. Or can I even call them conclusions, because the only thing that leaders could agree on was that they had actually talked about climate. We are in the midst of a rapidly progressing climate crisis and postponement of action is a mistake. This year again looks set to break any sort of records with regard to climate crisis, be it heat waves, droughts, intensity, extreme weather events, Arctic shield loss, etc. 
So, let me be very clear. Deciding to talk about climate later is failing to grasp the urgency of this task. We have to act now and we have to act decisively at all levels and also in all policy areas, and the compromise reached by the European Parliament on reducing greenhouse gases by 60% by 2030 is a good step forward. Some of you have said it’s an ambitious target, but it’s not so ambitious: it’s a more realistic target if we really want to save our planet. Member States should sign up to it quickly – to the 60% goal – so we can finally start acting. The climate doesn’t wait and neither should we. 
And yes, the economic transformation needed for that is no walk in the park, especially for regions with a long-standing tradition of carbon-intensive economies. That’s why the Parliament is insisting on having a proper-sized Just Transition Fund, among others, as part of a new EU budget, because you need to put the money where your policy targets is. You need to put the money where you want to have the EU fit for the tasks ahead and that requires adequate funding. Any government should know that. We need to have a climate spending target of 30% and a biodiversity target of 10% in order to be up to the tasks ahead. And EU funds also need to advance our Union values. That’s why compliance with rule of law must be an essential criteria for allocating the funds and these are critical elements in the Parliament’s position on the EU budget and recovery fund. It is just inadmissible that the Council disregards such fundamental concerns. 
As for Brexit, it’s very sad to see that so much time has passed without any agreement being reached on our future relations. We’re approaching the end of the time limit and I just want to remind us that of course the UK Government could have asked for an extension and they decided not to, but it’s also clear that we cannot accept a deal that would endanger the single market, social rights or environmental standards. So further work is needed on that and we are still extremely sad that Brexit was decided, but now we need to see that we also ensure the Union’s togetherness.
We are again holding this meeting under very exceptional circumstances. We’re in the midst of a big, big medical crisis. Let us learn from the EU response in the spring, let us now be more coordinated, more cohesive and make sure that border restrictions are avoided. It’s an exceptional year in many different ways and the Council needs to step up if it is ready to face these challenges.
(Applause)