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Peter Liese: Good that the Commission focuses on reducing bureaucracy and increasing competitiveness / Climate targets can only be achieved if we do better and act more pragmatically / Revision of REACH should make life easier for industry / Targeted review of CO2 cars expected rather sooner than later

“It is good that the Commission focuses on reducing bureaucracy and increasing competitiveness in its work program for 2025,” said Peter Liese, spokesperson for the biggest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) for environment, climate, and food safety, ahead of presentation of the Commission's work program on Tuesday this week.

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short-term changes announced/Further significant improvements on leakage/Competitiveness and reduction of bureaucracy not a contradiction to climate protection but a necessary prerequisite for real success


The European Commission is moving on the subject of fines for the car industry. This emerges from a document just adopted by the College of Commissioners under Ursula von der Leyen with the heading ‘Competitiveness Compass’. The passage, which was included in the document at short notice, reads: ‘As part of the dialogue, we will identify immediate solutions to safeguard industry's capacity to invest, by looking at possible flexibilities to make sure our industry remains competitive, without lowering the overall ambition of the 2025 targets.’

The environmental policy spokesperson for the largest political group in the European Parliament (Christian Democrats, Peter Liese, EPP) welcomed the development: ‘We must not give up on our climate targets. The target for 2025 in particular is by no means overambitious. But imposing fines in the current critical situation does not help anyone. Our group has therefore proposed that companies that do not meet the targets in 2025 should be given the opportunity to avoid penalties by exceeding the targets in 2026/2027. Apparently, the Commission is now also thinking along these lines. The submitted text of the Competition Compass also contains a whole series of other improvements compared to the draft originally published on Friday (leak).’

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Protection for energy-intensive industry yes, excessive bureaucracy no

“I wholeheartedly support EU Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra's plans. We need protection for our energy-intensive industry, which is on its way to climate neutrality. However, the current legislation is far too bureaucratic and therefore needs to be tidied up,“ said Dr. Peter Liese, climate policy spokesperson for the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), on the occasion of the EU Climate Commissioner's announcement to tidy up the requirements for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as part of a so-called ”omnibus procedure.”

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Paperwork is not environmental protection


“The resistance of the Social Democrats against the European Commission's plans for bureaucracy reduction is irresponsible”, stated the environmental policy spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP Christian Democrats), Peter Liese, in light of a letter from the Social Democratic group to Ursula von der Leyen ahead of the adoption of a paper from the Commission on Wednesday.

The Commission intends to present a guiding document for the direction of policy in the newly started legislative period under the title "Competitiveness Compass." The focus is on strengthening competitiveness and reducing bureaucracy. In a few weeks, a so-called "Omnibus" is to follow, which will aim to reduce bureaucracy in four specific laws (sustainability reporting, supply chain law, taxonomy, and border adjustment mechanism CBAM). The responsible members of the Social Democratic group have already reached out to Ursula von der Leyen in a letter against this proposal. In doing so, they contradict leading Social Democrats in Europe, such as Olaf Scholz, who are calling for exactly this bureaucracy reduction in these laws.

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