Slovak Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba hinted that he will not vote for changes in the area of the Green Deal at the Council of Ministers in Brussels.
Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic Tomáš Taraba does not want to vote for the Green Deal in Brussels. PHOTO: TASR
Bratislava – Slovakia will not vote in Brussels for changes in the Green Deal. Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba (nominated by SNS) announced this on social media on Wednesday. The changes are to be addressed by the EU Council for the Environment on Thursday (September 18) in Brussels, TASR reports.
“Decisions are to be made about further elements of the Green Deal. One of them is that they want to tighten emission standards that were supposed to apply in 2050, and now they want them to apply in 2040. This is another way to drive European industry out of the borders. Slovakia will not support this,” said Tomáš Taraba.
It is not enough to just passively agree with the ideas of Brussels officials
He emphasized that the strength of states in Brussels must be manifested by their ability to defend the interests of their citizens and not just “passively agree with the ideas of Brussels officials.”
Taraba pointed out that the ban on the sale of combustion engines could be lifted. This ban was one of the fundamental elements of the Green Deal and forced car manufacturers to invest millions of euros in electric vehicles, he said. “Today, when they see that they have caused weak economic performance of European car manufacturers, they have come to the conclusion that it needs to be lifted,” the minister noted. According to him, the Green Deal is an ideological political concept without a scientific and economic basis. (September 17)