Fit for 55: Environment Committee to work on way forward on carbon-pricing laws

As MEPs rejected the report on the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System, three draft laws, part of the Fit For 55 package, are on hold pending political agreement. Draft legislation on the Emissions Trading System (ETS) reform was referred back to committee after Parliament rejected the report by 340 votes to 265, with 34 abstentions. (Rule 59 (4) of the Rules of Procedure (RoP). The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was referred back to committee ahead of the votes on the amendments (Rule 198 of the RoP). Members voted in plenary on the amendments to the Social Climate Fund legislation, but the final vote was adjourned pending political agreement on the future of the ETS reform (Rule 200(4)). Parliament’s rules of procedure provide for the possibility, upon request by a political group or Members reaching at least the low threshold, to refer a file back to committee for further consideration.


Next steps

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will first discuss the matter next week among political groups’ coordinators, in order to find a way forward on the files, with the aim of quickly adopting Parliament’s position on the texts and starting inter-institutional negotiations.