Industry, Research and Energy committee Chair Cristian Bușoi reacted to the new proposals published by the European Commission on Wednesday.
“Many of the proposals in today’s package fall within the remit of our committee – on renewables, energy efficiency, energy performance of buildings, energy taxation, emission trading, all of which are extremely important in order to reach our goals” said Cristian Bușoi (EPP, RO). “We will work on the proposals with the mindset that our industry is the tool that will enable us to achieve these objectives. It is with our industry, and in the awareness of its interests that we will make this transition. We support market-based measures as they will benefit those who invest in innovative solutions and create a positive market signal”.
A change “of transformative nature” for industry
“For our industry, the change will be of transformative nature. The effort required is considerable, but we are convinced that it will allow us to gain competitiveness, conquer new markets and benefit from better jobs in Europe. We should protect industry jobs from unfair competition. We are also focused on ensuring a secure energy supply at affordable energy prices” he said. “Our industry will have to implement new solutions and be creative. This effort must therefore go hand in hand with an unwavering commitment to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which must be able to grow and offer new solutions to our industry without being overwhelmed by bureaucracy. We must also do everything we can to provide better careers and working conditions for European researchers, because their contribution will be more essential than ever”.
More is needed at EU level to restart the economy
“We also want action to be taken in addition to what Member States are doing in order to restart the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, taking care of different starting points for some regions or industrial sectors, in particular heavy-industry ones”. “Finally, we must ensure that in this transformation, no one is left behind. In the most energy-intensive industries, the careers of workers will have to be the focus of our attention, particularly in terms of re-skilling and up-skilling” he added.
The ITRE committee will hold a first debate on the legislative proposals with Energy Commissionner Kadri Simson on Thursday, 16.45. You can follow the debate from this link.
The European Commission adopted on Wednesday a package of proposals to make the EU’s climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
