Jourová says citizens gave EU green policies a ‘yellow card’

EU Commission Vice President Věra Jourová believes voters in the recent EU elections issued a yellow card to the EU policies, especially on climate.

Jourová shared her insights on the election results at a conference organised by Euractiv Czechia on Monday.

“Voters said: ‘We’ll give you another chance, but there’s a yellow card’,” Jourová said, stressing that voters were particularly concerned about the EU’s ambitious climate policy.

Jourová was optimistic about the formation of a solid centrist coalition.

“I am happy that there is the prospect of putting together a solid centrist coalition with a strengthened European People’s Party (EPP), a decent socialist presence (S&D) and Renew, which will lose some seats but may gain others. A majority could be achieved”.

Jourová is part of ANO, a Czech populist party that won the EU elections in the Czech Republic and secured seven seats. ANO was previously a member of ALDE and Renew Europe, but decided to leave the group, it announced on Friday.

“Seven seats is a lot, but I am glad that these seven seats did not break the back of both parties,” she remarked.

While noting her continued membership in ANO, Jourová expressed her desire to maintain her membership in the European liberal political party.

“Renew is an interesting group that is really widespread. Some liberals are very much on the left, and then there are people with more conservative sensibilities,” she explained.

However, Jourová stressed the difficulty of reconciling Renew Europe’s and ANO’s programmes, noting that they were too different to work together effectively.

(Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz)

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