The candidate for executive vice-president of the Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition and the Competition portfolio of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, defended in her speech examination before the European Parliament“early warning, assessment capacity and early response” in the event of weather disasters. Additionally, he confronted climate change deniers, asking “Focus your efforts on finding solutions, not denying what the science says.”
This is how he responded to comments by German MEP Anja Arndt, of the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group, which sparked boos among MEPs defending climate policies.
“The biggest concern of my children, my grandchildren and people of my generation is the denial of the impact of climate change and its repercussions on the economy,” said Ribera, who warned that “The data is terrifying.”
The candidate recalled that in 2024, The limit of 1.5 degrees of temperature increase has been exceeded which includes the Paris Agreement and warned that the North Atlantic Current is “on the verge of collapse”, which could have a “brutal climate impact” on the entire European continent.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more extreme weather phenomena,” added Ribera, who advocates strengthening capacities and instruments to create prosperity through the necessary green transformation, for which he asked to remain “united to guarantee a fair, intelligent and rapid solution.
In another response to Vox’s leader in the European Parliament, Jorge Buxadé, Ribera warned that “There is nothing more dangerous than undermining the credibility of institutions that warn“unfavorable weather phenomena and which the far-right MEP attacked with DANA’s flood alerts.
In this context, the candidate described Buxadé as “sad example” of denial in the face of global warming and stressed that Vox’s lack of support for general budgets makes it “particularly difficult to be able to invest in public services and have resources” to deal with the appearance of these phenomena, which “will become more recurrent “. and intense.”
The representative of the Liberals, the Frenchman Pascal Canfin, also addressed Buxadé during his speech to criticize him for having avoided making specific reference to climate change in his criticism of Ribera and that from the European Parliament he “is fights against all policies aimed at limiting its impact. of global warming.
Finally, Ribera warned, in response to Italian far-right Silvia Sardone – who shares a group with Vox in Patriots for Europe – that “denying the importance or difficulty of the problem does not make things easier” . “We must be extremely flexible, open and tolerant and generate consensus because the world will not wait for us,” he stressed.
The EU ‘cannot be left behind’ in the ‘race’ towards climate neutrality
Ribera said on Tuesday that “the race for climate neutrality” was underway and warned that the rest of the world “won’t wait” for the EUtherefore the bloc cannot afford to “fall behind”.
“The rest of the world will not wait for us, so let’s use our great abilities because we cannot be left behind, but we also cannot afford to leave anyone behind,” he told the committees of the European Parliament responsible for assessing its suitability. for the position.
Ribera emphasized that “the speed of change is accelerating” and guaranteed that, if confirmed as vice-president of the new community executive, she will work to achieve the goals set by President Ursula von der Leyen within her scope of action.
“Europe’s long-term competitiveness requires moving away from fossil fuels while adopting a circular, digital and resource-efficient economy, which attracts talent and investment and generates products, services and high-quality jobs,” he defended.
In this sense, he stressed during his first intervention that “it’s time”for example, to lower energy prices by “phasing out the use of fossil fuels” and “significantly reducing other dependencies”, as well as supporting the decarbonization of all sectors, accelerating the “transition fair”, by facilitating access to “affordable” resources. “housing and “fighting energy poverty”.
Asked about the role of nuclear energy, the development of which she rejected as Spanish minister, Ribera replied that The bloc is “trying to build a common energy policy” at the same time that it “respects the decision of each Member State on how to organize its energy mix”.
The Spanish candidate said that both countries that opt for nuclear power and others that prefer to prioritize the deployment of renewable energies are trying to achieve their goals “in terms of decarbonization and electrification” for 2030 and 2050, therefore they all “deserve respect.” “
Ribera too proposal to take on the powerful Competition portfoliorecalled that its mission will be to modernize European rules in this area to support the green and digital transitions.
More specifically, it will promote “a new approach to competition policy that better supports businesses as they grow in global markets and enables European businesses and consumers to reap the benefits of effective competition.”
He thus declared to MEPs that he would guarantee “rigorous” respect for competition rules, as well as the new tools that the EU has adopted for the digital scenario with the law on digital markets (DMA, in its acronym in English) and paying particular attention to so-called “killer acquisitions”, in which foreign companies buy small, innovative European companies.
The PP confuses the appointment of Teresa Ribera in Brussels
The Spanish politician, who aspires to occupy the executive vice-presidency of the Commission for a clean, fair and competitive transition, in addition to the European portfolio of Competition, appeared this Tuesday before the members of the three committees of the European Parliament directly involved in his future skills and five other guest commissions.
Even if its parliamentary examination took place this Tuesday, after the PP maneuver to try to block Ribera’s nomination as vice-president of the Commission, the European PP, the social democrats and the liberals agreed to postpone the vote on the six vice-presidential candidates.
As LaSexta was able to confirm, this attempt by the PP to sow doubt by delaying the vote on the figure of Ribera caused a domino effect: the vote is delayed en bloc of the five other vice-presidents chosen by Von der Leyen for his college of commissioners. No voting date is planned, although it is expected to take place next week.
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