Flanders minister fires warning shot over EU Green Deal

The European Green Deal could find a bump in the road in the form of the climate minister for Flanders, Zuhal Demir. The Belgian regional Minister of Environment, Energy and Tourism said that the EU’s flagship CO2-neutrality roadmap could be blocked by the Flanders if it does not address economic needs in the aftermath of the coronavirus emergency.

“Flanders cannot give its agreement to the signature,” warned the former Belgian Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities.

The Green Deal, which aspires to transform the EU into a resource-efficient economy by 2050, requires unanimous agreement by the governments of all members states to go ahead. Belgium is a federation of three regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.

This is not the first time the minister from the nationalist NVA party criticised the project unveiled by the EU Commission late last year. In February, Demir questioned the fairness of the mechanism of distribution of the Green Deal fund. 

“Flanders closed its mines long ago and has already invested a great deal in a greener economy. You can’t give the largest part of the budget to the countries that are the biggest polluters,” Minister Demir said.