May 17, 2022

Today European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will participate in an Offshore Wind Summit with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Belgian Prime Ministers Alexander De Croo, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. In a joint declaration they are set to highlight the role of home-grown North Sea offshore wind in strengthening the EU’s energy security.

In two resolutions that will be put to the plenary vote tomorrow, the European Parliament will call on the member states to immediately start negotiation talks with North Macedonia and Albania. Despite the fact that these two Western Balkan countries have fulfilled all the requested conditions a long time ago, the European Council has not been able to schedule the first Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

The European Parliament’s economic affairs committee will today adopt a compromise on the new European Green Bond rules* that would significantly improve the functioning of this rapidly growing market. The S&Ds tried hard to ensure that the new rules would bring an end to the existing chaos and guarantee truly green investments. 

Paul Tang, S&D MEP and the rapporteur on the green bonds rules, said:

According to the S&D Group, the EU should be able to reallocate unspent money to tackle crises like pandemics, or refugee flows due to conflicts in third countries. Yet, the new spending rules in the Financial Regulation, proposed by the European Commission, do not give the much needed flexibility for EU money to be used in cases of unforeseen circumstances, say the Socialists and Democrats.