A leaked draft from the European Council lays bare the EU’s strategic agenda for the next five years. We Don’t Have Time can now reveal that the document shockingly downplays Europe’s climate agenda.
We Don’t Have Time has obtained a leaked draft of the European Council’s strategic agenda for 2024-2029. Once adopted, this high-level document will define the EU's most important political priorities after the 2024 elections.
For anyone concerned about the climate crisis, the leaked document is not a pleasant read.
The strategic agenda of the European Union focuses on a number of priorities for the upcoming five years. It also sets out how to achieve those objectives. The current agenda, for 2019-2024, has four main priorities. One of them is: Building a climate-neutral, green, fair and social Europe. This priority has been the driving factor behind the European Green Deal, and a main reason why Europe is considered a world leader in terms of climate action. But this might now drastically change.
The leaked draft of the coming five-year agenda clearly shows that climate is not to be considered a main priority of the European Union. The priority headline about a climate-neutral Europe has been deleted, and the word ”climate” is only mentioned twice in the whole document.
During a press briefing on the strategic agenda on April 2, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said: ”By now, we have identified together a set of clear priorities, which converge towards delivering a powerful common goal – a strong, prosperous and democratic Union”.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council. Photo: European Union
He did not provide any details about the new Agenda's priorities, but the leaked document makes it brutally clear what these new priorities are – and what has been excluded.
While the former agenda called for stepping up climate action on multiple levels to ensure that EU policies are consistent with the Paris Agreement, the leaked draft doesn’t mention the need for urgent climate action at all. It says that Europe should ”promote innovation and research, including in the field of defence and to accompany Europe towards climate neutrality”. It also notes that Europe should ”prepare for the new realities stemming from climate change.”
That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing about how the Green Deal enhances competitiveness and creates thousands of new jobs; nothing about nature and biodiversity; nothing about pollution and health; and nothing about the need for urgent climate action to curb emissions in time.
This proposed downgrading comes at a time when climate action has never been more urgent. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, UN Climate Change, said in a speech earlier this week: ”The next two years are essential in saving our planet. We still have a change to make greenhouse emissions tumble, with a new generation of climate plans. But we need there stronger plans, now.”
Ingmar Rentzhog, CEO and founder of We Don’t Have Time, says the content of the leaked document is extremely concerning.
”It’s obvious that powerful fossil fuel interests have a strong ability to influence political leadership in many European countries. But what is extra worrying this time is that they seem to be succeeding in playing down the EU climate agenda already before the upcoming EU elections.”
This leaked draft of the EU Strategic Agenda is an internal working document, which means it can still be improved. But because of the upcoming European Elections, it is more likely that the final version will be even more watered-down than the draft.
The draft version has already passed through the first two phases. The first was The letter of intent, sent by President Charles Michel, President of the European Council, to the Heads of State and government on June 24, 2023. The second was the Granada Declaration, which was adopted by the member states on October 6, 2023.
The next important step is the informal Council Summit in Brussels, Belgium, on April 17. At this summit, EU leaders might adopt another declaration. If not, the document will be finally approved at the European Council Summit on 27-28 June, approximately three weeks after the European Parliament Election on 6-9 June. Once the election results are known, Charles Michel will draft the final text of the Strategic Agenda for sign-off by the Member States.
And that’s when things might become even more worrying.
370 million Europeans are eligible to vote in the upcoming European Parliament Election.
Several polls so far have shown that this election might bring significantly more power to the parties that are already today lobbying for a weakened climate agenda in Europe. In a new report, titled ”A Sharp Right Turn: A Forecast for the 2024 European Parliament Elections,” the authors warn that “a populist right coalition of Christian democrats, conservatives, and radical right MEPs could emerge with a majority for the first time” in the history of the European Parliament. According to the authors, such a “sharp right turn” is ”likely to have significant consequences for European-level policies, which will affect the foreign policy choices that the EU can make, particularly on environmental issues, where the new majority is likely to oppose ambitious EU action to tackle climate change.”
The good news is that there is still time to call on EU leaders to rework this draft and re-introduce climate action as a main priority in the strategic agenda.
But how?
Here are two ways you can help push for the EU to strengthen its climate policy instead of going in another direction:
- Inform the media. One of the best ways to get political leaders to act and react is via TV, newspapers, and other news media. Find the contact info of the news editors on the website of your favorite news organization, and inform them about the leaked document. You can use this pre-written message when sending your email.
- Vote. If you are a European citizen, vote for the climate in the upcoming European Parliament. Read up on your candidates and vote for those who support – and push fore – an ambitious climate agenda.
ABOUT: THE EU STRATEGIC AGENDA
- Every five years, EU leaders agree on the EU's political priorities for the future. It is a collective effort led by the President of the European Council, where leaders discuss and decide together. It takes place in the context of the European Parliament elections and ahead of the appointment of each European Commission.
- Charles Michel, President of the European Council, is leading the process by working collectively and inclusively with EU countries' leaders.
- The informal European Council meeting on 6 October 2023 in Granada, Spain, was the first time EU leaders had debated future priorities for the strategic agenda.
- In November 2023 President Michel launched a round of consultations to deepen discussions on key questions related to policies, financing and decision-making. The first of these consultations took place in Berlin, Copenhagen, Zagreb and Paris. In April 2024, the second consultation round will take place in Vilnius, Bucharest, Warsaw and Vienna.
- The strategic agenda is set to be adopted in June 2024.
