His push comes amid a flurry of comments from EU leaders seeking to shape the meeting’s agenda, with French President Emmanuel Macron advocating for joint debt and a European preference policy in an interview with several media outlets published Tuesday morning.
The Austrian chancellor’s comments echo other leaders including Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, both of whom have called on the EU to do away with environmental rules they blame for high energy prices.
“The approach we took with the Green Deal was certainly not sustainable: in Austria, for example, the reduction in CO2 emissions is ultimately primarily due to a decrease in production,” Stocker added, referring to a landmark environmental package of regulations approved during the Commission’s previous mandate. “Becoming greener cannot be our goal; it means becoming poorer.”
The EU has already begun to unwind parts of its environmental rulebook as part of a deregulation drive backed by a majority of the bloc’s member countries. In joint discussion papers, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have called for accelerating that deregulation drive and creating an “emergency brake” on new EU legislation.
“Fortunately, the trend reversal has already begun,” added Stocker. “As a next step, I will advocate for an extension of the free emissions allowances [under the EU Emissions Trading System] for our industry. This will ensure that domestic industry remains competitive and that our companies do not relocate.”