Knife-edge EU Council methane vote could hinge on commission action plan

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Nórsky LNG tanker Arctic Lady. Foto – Amanda Graham, Flickr.com (licencia CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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By Wester van Gaal,
Amsterdam
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EU member states remain deadlocked over whether to delay the bloc’s methane rules for oil and gas importers by one year or three, with neither side able to secure a majority.

Ambassadors were due to agree the EU Council’s negotiating position this week, after a first attempt failed last week.

But the Irish presidency has had to push the vote back to 6 November again as the two camps continue to disagree on the timeline. 

On the one hand, France, Spain, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg and Portugal back the European commission’s proposal for a one-year delay. 

The other group, including Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece and Slovenia, wants three years.

And then there is a third group of countries that haven’t decided yet, or could live with either scenario.

The undecideds and waverers 

Belgium, for example, signed a call in June for a three-year delay, but could live with the commission’s timeline, though it would refuse a pause of more than three years, which parliament’s proposed 2029 review could open the door to.

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Nórsky LNG tanker Arctic Lady. Foto – Amanda Graham, Flickr.com (licencia CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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Author Bio

Wester van Gaal is our economics editor. He joined EUobserver in September 2021. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Motherboard, Vice Media’s technology and science website, and worked as a climate economy journalist for The Correspondent. He is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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