“What must be avoided now is overloading the boat.” Following French President Emmanuel Macron, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Tuesday 23 declared himself in favor of a European regulatory “pause” on environmental standards.
The head of government estimated on the Dutch-language television channel VRT that it would be counterproductive for Belgium and the European Union to add “new nitrogen dioxide standards, new standards linked to the environmental restoration law nature,” or even “new standards in the field of biodiversity.”
“I ask to press the pause button, but not with regard to CO2,” nuanced Alexander de Croo. “For CO2 we must keep our full ambition, but for the other subjects I ask to see if it is the right time to do everything at the same time.”
He said he feared “a situation where there are so many rules that our industry can no longer manage them (…) and then we will not meet our CO2 emission reduction targets, because it is the industry that will have to implement them.” He also expressed concern about the risk of “losing the momentum that currently exists to deal with climate change,” and of “widespread skepticism.”
[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in French and has been translated and edited for clarity.]
