GUE/NGL has decided not to support the joint resolution of the European Parliament on the European Green Deal to be voted in plenary tomorrow as the text lacks the necessary ambition to tackle the climate emergency.

Despite constructive proposals from GUE/NGL, the final text calls for further liberalisation of the energy market putting more families at risk of energy poverty, has an excessive focus on economic growth, refuses to review the Common Agricultural Policy and fails to loosen fiscal restrictions on national budgets to provide adequate funding for the Deal.

GUE/NGL co-President Manon Aubry (France Insoumise, France) explained why the Left could not support the text and has put forward an alternative resolution with proposals at the level of the challenge of tackling the climate crisis and social inequalities:

“The EP resolution on the European Green Deal does not challenge any of the Commission’s favourite dogmas: free market, free trade, endless growth and austerity.

“Its lack of ambition is deeply disappointing. GUE/NGL will not sign a text that is unfit to tackle the emergencies of our time.

“People and planet deserve better. The Left will keep its constructive approach to obtain stronger commitments and continue to demand a radical change to the ways we consume, produce and trade,” she concluded.