He has also frequently raised concerns about the outsized impact the clean energy shift will have on his home country of Czechia, which still uses coal power and is poorer than other EU countries.
Last month, Knotek urged the EU to abandon the 2040 target while explaining his vote against the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, a plan meant to boost manufacturing while helping firms decarbonize.
In July, he called the 2040 proposal “utter madness.”
“It will bring price hikes, loss of choice in heating or transportation,” he said in a post on X. “Another betrayal of citizens by Ursula von der Leyen and all those who helped her to power a year ago,” he added, referencing the European Commission president.
Knotek did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
As the lead 2040 lawmaker, Knotek will set the agenda for talks aimed at finding a common Parliament position.