PRAGUE - Andrej Babiš, in his commentary on the Green Deal (CNN Prima NEWS, 29 January 2025), once again takes a rather creative approach to the facts and especially to his former positions and opinions, if I should refrain from using strong words.
He is trying to prove that the approval of the Green Deal did not really concern him, that it was only a kind of political declaration, but on the other hand so important that he fought for the Polish exemption because of it. Why not for the Czech one, he has not yet been able to explain anywhere.
Now he is shouting that he will repeal the Green Deal. He also does not say what the repeal of a simple "political declaration", as he calls it in the same paragraph, would lead to. It only goes to show the former Prime Minister's confusion when it comes to foreign and European policy, which was never his preserve and which he has not found his way around even three years after leaving office.
Three years ago, he explained that not participating in the Green Deal basically means not being in the European Union. "That's a thousand billion that we are supposed to get, mainly for investments in water, in forests, in the environment, in the greening of industry, which is beneficial to us. It is not at all appropriate to think about withdrawing from the Green Deal and it is necessary for the gentlemen to study this," former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš reiterated, CNN Prima NEWS 2. 2. 2022.
But let's get back to the point. The commitments resulting from the Green Deal approved by Babiš are a continuation of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was negotiated under the ČSSD and ANO governments in 2015 under Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO). The ratification of this agreement was pushed through the Chamber of Deputies by the same coalition on 5 September 2017 against the will of the ODS.
A year earlier, Minister Brabec had signed the agreement at a ceremony in New York, where he commented: "Last December's agreement is in many ways a historic milestone and I think European countries, including the Czech Republic, can be satisfied with its wording... All countries, both developed and developing, will have to meet their greenhouse gas reduction commitments to contribute to this goal."
The European Union took the commitments of the agreement seriously and introduced the Green Deal to deliver on it through the subsequent regulations. This strategy was also approved by the European Council in the voice of Andrej Babiš in December 2019.
You can read that the ANO movement takes these climate commitments seriously and that this was not some kind of temporary infatuation in the movement's election programme for the Chamber of Deputies elections in 2021, i.e. for the current term. Among other things, it says: 'We will support progressive greening, we will meet our EU commitments and we will massively support investment in CO2 reduction.' or "We will meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement and European legislation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Czech Republic by at least an additional 15 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025."
In December 2020, Andrej Babiš then endorsed the setting of ambitious EU climate targets for 2030 at the European Council. The European Council specifically declared that "in order to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of climate neutrality by 2050, the EU must raise its ambition for the coming decade and update its climate and energy policy framework." All subsequent climate legislation was merely a fulfilment of this agreement.
If we accept Andrej Babiš's - untrue - argument that he only approved a general declaration in the form of the Green Deal, then the approval of the so-called Climate Act, which translated the commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 into European legislation, was a clear commitment to this goal. And it happened again under the ANO government on 17 December 2020.
Czech Presidency
Our second Presidency of the EU Council was an international success. It took place in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and at the height of the energy crisis. We managed to resolve many of the problems that these crises brought with them. From securing energy supplies, to dealing with the refugee wave from Ukraine, to kick-starting aid to that embattled country.
However, Andrej Babiš has once again misunderstood the role and powers of the presiding country. Its function is to moderate the discussion and find compromises that have the majority, or in some cases unanimous, support of the Member States. The Presidency itself has no special voice. It moderates the debate, depending on whether or not there is a majority of countries in favour of the proposal. The Presidency therefore does not approve anything.
However, in the course of preparing compromise texts, we managed to modify the proposals so that they would be more favourable for the Czech Republic. Thermal power plants have received 30 % of freely allocated allowances under the ETS, which reduces the price of central heating and helps to modernise the sector. We have also pushed for the introduction of a cap on the price of allowances in ETS2, after which additional allowances will be released on the market to bring the price down again. The allocation of the Modernisation Fund for the Czech Republic was increased and a Social Climate Fund was created to help the poorest households. We have achieved the maximum possible in our presidential role.
What can I say in conclusion? We have become accustomed to the former prime minister's opinionated rants. He is guided only by the current opinion polls and is not bothered by the fact that not so long ago he was acting, and more importantly, doing the exact opposite. The fact that these reversals have become routine does not mean that we should accept it and accept this rewriting of the past as reality.
The commentary appeared on CNN Prima News.
Petr Fiala / ods.cz / gnews.cz-jav
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