Europe Ahead: Greens/EFA’s Andresen on the false climate vs economy dilemma

***The Europe Ahead series covers views from MEPs in charge of economic files for the main political groups in the run-up to the June EU elections.

Right-wing arguments that Europe would need to sacrifice climate ambitions to boost competitiveness are groundless and increasingly rejected by business leaders, the head of the German members of the Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament told Euractiv.

Rasmus Andresen, who also serves on the Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, explained that a growing number of company executives now recognise global warming’s disastrous long-term implications and expected negative impact on profits.

He also argued that a significant proportion of Europe’s business community is more concerned about climate change than some European People’s Party (EPP) members, the centre-right group expected to retain its position as the most powerful parliamentary bloc after the European elections in June.

“Big parts of industry and business are much further [ahead on climate policy] than some of the politicians within the EPP,” he said.

The argument of a climate-competitiveness trade-off (recently exemplified by growing industrialists’ calls for the next Commission to shift from a Green Deal to an Industrial Competitiveness Deal) does not hold water “because if we are getting global warming like 99% of the scientists are telling us, then you will not have the possibility to trade or to invest or to do business,” Andresen said.

“Business people, industry also, for example in Germany – they know how big the challenges are.”

“They are not telling us: ‘Please stop with climate policy.’ They are telling us: ‘Let’s do this in a way so that we can implement it, that we are investing in our infrastructure.'”

His comments come amid a growing backlash from conservative and far-right groups about the EU’s ambitious green agenda. Many claim that the bloc’s objective of fully decarbonising by 2050 should be re-evaluated—or even permanently suspended—in light of Europe’s weak economy and widespread industrial decline.

They also come ahead of an anticipated sharp turn rightward at the European elections, with the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) groups expected to gain ground alongside the more centrist EPP.

By contrast, the Greens/EFA group—which brings together national green and regionalist parties—is projected to lose roughly a quarter of its 72 seats.

Voters motivated by economic grievances

Asked why so many European citizens are persuaded by the argument that competitiveness at odds with the EU’s Green Deal regulations, Andresen said voters are primarily motivated by economic grievances.

“For a lot of people, the past years have been quite frustrating because they had real income losses,” he said. “So there are big social problems and a big economic divide. And, of course, this means that some people are voting [for] more radicalised [parties], and some of them are not even turning up for the election.”

The MEP further argued that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen—whose flagship Green Deal agenda has angered many members of her own EPP group—has failed to address the scheme’s social and economic aspects.

“I also think that maybe the Commission [made] some mistakes in the past term by, for example, not focussing a lot on the economy or social elements within the Green Deal,” he said.

Andresen, who is seeking re-election for a second parliamentary term, also emphasised that the electoral results on June 9th are far from a foregone conclusion.

“I still think it’s quite a dynamic situation, and there are still a lot of undecided voters,” he said.

Plans for a green interest rate far from reaching political breakthrough

Andresen was also critical of the EU’s recent fiscal and monetary policies, blaming the former—which strictly limits member states’ ability to accrue debt—for potentially leading to cuts in crucial social spending and green investments.

Moreover, he denounced the European Central Bank’s (ECB) tight monetary policy for “damaging” the bloc’s economy by making it “more expensive for companies to invest”.

He expressed support for the introduction of ‘dual rates’ – an increasing point of focus among progressive politicians and analysts – whereby green projects are financed at a lower interest rate than other investments.

“it would give the possibility to boost green investments with monetary policy on the one side, but you can still deal with other parts [of the economy] in a different way if you want to do this as a central bank,” he said.

However, Andresen noted that right-wing groups have repeatedly hampered the Greens/EFA’s efforts to force the ECB to introduce dual rates.

“We tried to push for it in the Parliament in the past years, but there is a lot of opposition to this,” he said.

“I think the idea needs to be discussed a bit more before we will get a breakthrough.”

[Edited by Anna Brunetti/Alice Taylor]