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Claire Stam

Claire Stam Published: November 24th, 2023

What’s cooking in Brussels? The implementation of a UN idea at EU level

“It is the beginning of an idea that we have been working on for the last six months”, said MEP Mohammed Chahim from the S&D Group at a meeting in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. The Moroccan-born Dutch politician from the Labor Party has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is […]

Claire Stam Published: November 23rd, 2023

Commission wants to standardize forest monitoring

Yesterday, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra presented a new legislative proposal on forest monitoring. The proposal is intended to create the framework for a comprehensive knowledge base on forests. This should enable member states, forest owners, and forest managers to respond better to the growing challenges posed by climate change […]

Claire Stam Published: November 22nd, 2023

EU Parliament buries pesticide regulation

“A black day for the environment and farmers.” The Green rapporteur on the pesticide regulation, Sarah Wiener, was crestfallen in the European Parliament’s plenary chamber. After a fierce battle over amendments, the Commission’s proposal on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation (SUR) was rejected at first reading by 299 votes to 207, with 121 abstentions.Numerous […]

Claire Stam Published: November 22nd, 2023

Today, around midday, MEPs will vote on a text setting out their position on the reduction of pesticides. It is one of the most controversial of the six Green Deal texts on the agenda for this week’s plenary session. This text – known in Brussels jargon as the SUR – was defended at the time […]

Claire Stam Published: November 15th, 2023

Trilogue agreement on methane takes up imports

At 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the Council and Parliament agreed on a legal text in the trilogue on the methane regulation in the energy sector. It is noteworthy that the negotiators also included the entire supply chain of fossil fuel imports in the regulation. In terms of the global impact of methane on the […]

Claire Stam Published: November 14th, 2023

Parliament and the Council are meeting today to negotiate the proposal to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector. The starting signal for what is likely to be the final trilogue is at 7.30 pm. It is not expected to end until late at night. The negotiations are tough. Two circumstances make the issue so […]

Claire Stam Published: November 10th, 2023

What’s cooking in Paris? Duel of the aspirants

One, Gérald Darmanin, 41 years old and French interior minister since 2020, comes from the conservatives and now wants to cultivate his social streak. The second, Gabriel Attal, 34, newly appointed Minister of Education, has completed his ox tour with the Socialists and attracted attention at the start of the new school year by banning […]

Claire Stam Published: November 10th, 2023

Trilogue agreement on Nature Restoration Law

After nine hours of negotiations, the negotiators agreed on a Nature Restoration Law on Thursday evening. The text differs greatly from the proposal presented by the Commission in June 2022. Both the Greens and the EPP were able to score successes. As expected, the negotiations on Article 9 (Agricultural ecosystems) were particularly difficult, especially paragraph […]

Claire Stam Published: November 9th, 2023

Renaturation: tension before final trilogue

The final trilogue on the proposal for a law to restore nature starts today, Thursday, at 2 p.m. – a law that is politically explosive. The Commission will present a compromise proposal. It remains to be seen whether Parliament will support this compromise. According to a source close to the negotiations, the conservative EPP in […]

Claire Stam Published: November 7th, 2023

Renaturation: Nothing has been decided yet

It is unusual that the Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera will lead the negotiations for the trilogue on the renaturation law. It is extremely rare for ministers to negotiate themselves. Normally, the respective permanent representations sit at the table for the Council. However, in the case of this law, which has already been the subject […]