Socialist MEPs urge von der Leyen to cap methane-rules delay at one year, or withdraw it
by https://euobserver.com/author/wester-van-gaal/ · EUobserver“We do not foresee this [delay] to be more than one year,” energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen previously told MEPs, but some are pushing for a longer pause
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By Wester van Gaal,
Centre-left MEPs are trying to convince the European Commission to withdraw its proposal to pause EU methane rules, if parliament or member states try to delay them for more than one year.
Last week, energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen announced that the commission would propose delaying the import rules, due to kick in on 1 January 2027, by a year, following months of pressure from member states, the White House, and oil and gas companies.
But in a letter sent on Monday (12 October) to commission president Ursula von der Leyen and three of her commissioners, five Socialists and Democrats (S&D) MEPs said any postponement must be “strictly limited to a single year.”
The letter, seen by EUobserver, was signed by S&D vice-president Mohammed Chahim, Tiemo Wölken, Jens Geier, Günther Sidl, and Thomas Pellerin-Carlin.
If parliament or member states try to push for a longer delay, the commission should “make full use of its right to withdraw the proposal,” they wrote, “as such changes would distort its purpose.”
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“We do not foresee this [delay] to be more than one year,” energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen previously told MEPs, but some are pushing for a longer pause
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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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