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Bratislava – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic Tomáš Taraba (nominated by SNS) at the meeting of the EU Council of Environment Ministers in Brussels supported meaningful solutions that will improve the competitiveness of the Slovak automotive industry in the EU. This was reported by the communication department of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic.
The main points of the ministers’ meeting included the issue of the recycling rate of plastics in the automotive sector, handling plastic granules, agreeing on the percentage of recycling, and the issue of dealing with cars at the end of their lifecycle.
According to Vice Premier and Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic Tomáš Taraba, Slovakia advocated at the negotiations in Brussels to reduce the mandatory percentage of recycled plastics from 25 percent to 15 percent to strengthen the competitiveness of the automotive industry on an international scale.
“At the same time, we supported lowering the ambitious and unrealistic goals set for the automotive industry. In this context, we supported the French proposal to postpone the penalization of companies not meeting emission standards, but we do not consider even this proposal ambitious enough and will seek support for even more significant revisions,” explained Taraba.
The head of the environmental department also attended a coordination meeting with the V4 ministers in Brussels. Taraba defended changes in the European emissions trading system EU ETS 2, which are also supported by other member states, such as Poland and the Czech Republic. It is with the ministers of these neighboring states that Taraba agrees on the need to open previously adopted solutions related to the launch of emissions trading for the transport and building sectors from 2027, which the Slovak Republic refused to fully transform into its law.
“In this context, we consider it absolutely crucial to protect not only the European industry but, above all, the living standards of our citizens and we reject their financial burden with additional emission permits,” emphasized Taraba.
In discussions about the potential reassessment of the climate target by 2040, advocated by the European Commission, Slovakia holds the view that such changes should not be adopted by majority voting at the ministerial level, but unanimously at the level of heads of government. (December 17)