This blog was written by Eero Yrjö-Koskinen, IEEP Executive Director.
After the initial shock, the election results in the United States may have a silver lining to the development of European cooperation. As of now, it should be clear to all that the EU should rely on its own strengths and capacities instead of Atlantic cooperation, which has once again become unstable.
During the next four years, the USA will most probably become more self-centred, promoting fossil fuels, slashing the achievements of the Inflation Reduction Act, and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. While maintaining good transatlantic relations, we should not expect any new initiatives from the US in environmental protection and climate change mitigation. Instead, we should build new partnerships with regions and countries in the Global South that will have a key role in the achievement of the green transition.
In a world of increasing conflicts, Europe should maintain constructive relations with China, which will be required to achieve our climate targets. And while continuing our support to Ukraine, we should also provide the necessary technical and financial help in reconstructing its energy infrastructure and supporting its efforts to join the EU.
In addition, we should promote further cooperation between Member States in sectors, where the internal market remains to be achieved, including energy grids and railway networks. Full interoperability will be key if we intend to reach an efficient, just, and orderly transition.
Facing all these challenges, the EU institutions should work closely together and build a common approach that is based on trust. In this respect, it remains worrying that the EPP group in the European Parliament has decided to table 14 amendments to the EU Deforestation Regulation, which in practice would reopen negotiations on an agreement that has already been approved and sealed.
The proposal to delay the implementation of the regulation by additional one year on top of the one-year delay proposed by the European Commission would be highly counterproductive as many industries have already made the necessary arrangements and investments to comply with its requirements. In addition, it could become a precedent for similar initiatives in other legislative matters, which could eventually cripple EU decision-making.
The European Union has managed to brush aside national interests and work together in times of major crises. This is not a moment for narrow thinking but joint approaches to international challenges that we are currently facing. I sincerely hope that our decision-makers share this view and join forces to secure a better world for the future.
Photo by Drew Perales on Unsplash
