Early last month, French President Emmanuel Macron shocked Europe by urging the European Union to take a break from imposing additional regulations on struggling industries. The EU has already done “more than its neighbors” to save the planet from environmental doom, said Macron. Any further steps would pose risks for European manufacturing and thus prosperity.
Perhaps seeking to present himself as the true leader of a united Europe, Macron has been speaking out on a wide variety of topics in recent weeks – apologizing to Eastern Europe for not listening to their warnings about Russian aggression while also suggesting that negotiations with Russia’s leaders be followed by pursuing Vladimir Putin and others for war crimes.
A major reason for Macron’s call for a halt to further self-flagellation over the “climate crisis” is his view that, “We are ahead, in regulatory terms, of the Americans, the Chinese, and of any other power in the world.” In another speech, Macron said, “I prefer factories that respect our European standards, which are the best, rather than those who still want to add standards and always more – but without having any more factories.”
Macron’s comments were followed a week later by word that the European People’s Party (which includes Germany’s Christian Democrats) is considering withdrawing its support for the European Commission’s Green Deal. That’s the set of proposals that includes EU-wide targets for eliminating carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 – which 11 EU countries have already adopted.
Back in March, the Dutch Farmers-Citizen’s Movement (BoerburgerBeweging, or BBB) won 15 seats in the nation’s Senate with nearly 20 percent of the vote. The party was formed to challenge a government plan to buy out 3,000 family farms to lower nitrogen emissions (and thus fertilizer use) and reduce livestock numbers. The movement has expanded to appeal to both rural and urban residents who espouse traditional, conservative Dutch social and moral values.
In May, the newly formed Burger in Wut (Citizens in Anger) party won nearly 10 percent of the vote in German state elections in Bremen in its first political venture. The party’s vote total may have been enhanced by the banning of the climate-skeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bremen elections. The AfD is now polling higher in Germany than the Green party and closing in on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (well below the Christian Democrats).
Was it news like this that led Macron, who won reelection last year with 58 percent of the vote against Marine Le Pen, to change his tune? During that 2022 campaign, Le Pen did not disavow the green agenda but insisted that the transition should be "much slower than what is being imposed on the French." Now it appears that Macron has adopted Le Pen’s platform stance on the greening of France.
European climate catastrophists were horrified last September with the election of Giorgia Meloni as Italy’s first female Prime Minister, but it is her leadership that is driving the opposition to such green idols as electric vehicle (only) mandates. During her successful campaign, Meloni called the European Union’s Green Deal “climate fundamentalism” and questioned the scale of financing going to the green transition.
Her message was that carbon dioxide emissions can be lowered without having to sacrifice economic growth and development. “Greta Thunberg’s ideology (shared by the EU bigwigs) will lead us to lose thousands of companies and millions of jobs in Europe,” she argued. Instead, she promised to rely on the expertise and creativity of businesses and entrepreneurs to achieve long-term climate goals.
Meloni had earlier told a Spanish audience, “We have been told over the years that there is no alternative to ecological ideology…. But they were wrong or lied to us. Because we now realize that our energy dependence is dramatic and that the transition to electric without controlling the raw material will make us even more dependent on China than we are on Russia.”
The Norwegians last month thumbed their noses at the anti-fossil fuel crowd, with companies announcing plans for more drilling in the Arctic areas in the Barents Sea. Norway’s government has called for more oil and gas discoveries to boost energy security and help European partners with energy supply.
Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Aasland called on oil and gas companies to fulfill their “social responsibility” and “leave no stone unturned” to find more natural gas resources in the Barents Sea. Aasland boasted that, “The petroleum adventure in the north has only just started,” noting that Norway must develop – not liquidate – its petroleum industry.
Politicians tend to follow the polls, and a recent survey found that many Europeans, while alarmed by reports of a “climate crisis,” are not willing to make major changes to their lifestyles to placate those who call for extreme actions to “save the planet.” While 81 percent in Italy (the highest number by country) said they were very or fairly worried about climate change, far fewer said they would never again buy products made of single-use plastic.
Sizable minorities were even willing to limit their meat and dairy intake, but only one in ten Germans would voluntarily refrain from eating meat and dairy altogether or have fewer children.
Only a third of respondents across the seven nations surveyed would voluntarily switch to an electric vehicle – despite EU and national mandates soon forcing those vehicles on their people. Large majorities well above 60 percent opposed bans on fossil fuel vehicles. And most had no wish to give up personal vehicles in favor of government transportation only.
The American Inflation Reduction Act has put European governments and businesses in a bind. Either the government ramp up their own subsidies for greening their economies or they risk deindustrialization. The IRA is forcing companies to leave Europe for North America to qualify for Biden’s massive climate-related subsidies. Naturally, the EU government’s response was its own 250-billion-euro Green Deal Industrial Plan.
British Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said his government will focus on regulatory reforms rather than subsidies to entice green investment. [No wonder there was new support for permitting reform in Congress’ adoption of the debt ceiling bill.]
But, as Joseph Sternberg wrote in The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. cannot afford green subsides any more than Europe.
Despite the “thaw” in Europe, hardly any European politician is grappling with disparities in global temperature data or evidence of a growing (not shrinking) Antarctic ice shelf. Questioning “the science” – even if “the science” is partly pure speculation – is grounds for deplatforming across the European (and American) metaverse.
Questioning the economics, therefore, is the only viable brake on the climate lemmings. The questions are now coming rapidly – but the absolutists refuse to budge.
Will Europe follow the wisdom of Giorgia Meloni and the Norwegians – and belatedly, Emmanuel Macron? Or will the Barons of Brussels continue to push Europe over the edge?
Duggan Flanakin is Senior Policy Advisor with the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow who writes about a multitude of issues, innovations, and ideas.