BRUSSELS — This summer sparked a “realization” that the European Union needs to strengthen its climate-proofing efforts, including by tailoring its budget to the challenges of a warming world, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said. She also expects the issue to feature heavily in Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech on Wednesday. There’s always a little bit of this in every State of the Union… I think this year the accent will be higher.” There is now a “sense of urgency and an understanding that we cannot let a winter pass before another summer comes” to prepare for the increase in heat waves, wildfires and floods, she added.
This is also linked to the long ask of this Parliament that we are more prepared,” she said, citing member countries’ increasing requests for financial support for dealing with climate disasters. Metsola also said she expected von der Leyen to focus on the issues of competitiveness, affordability and security, including migration, in Wednesday’s speech. The Parliament president didn’t ask for stronger efforts to slash planet-warming emissions.
But she rejected the idea that competitiveness and climate action would necessarily clash.
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