Inter-parliamentary lead group for EU climate policy launched during climate summit in Poland

In the second week of December, a delegation of members of the Dutch House of Representatives attended the UN Climate Summit (COP 24) in the Polish city of Katowice. On Wednesday 12 December, the Economic Affairs and Climate Committee and the Benelux Parliament launched a ‘National Parliaments for EU Climate Ambition’. This was the first meeting of an inter-parliamentary lead group that will focus on EU climate policy. In this lead group, national parliament members from EU member states will discuss the necessity of an ambitious EU climate policy and exchange national developments and challenges relating to climate.

UN Climate Summit (COP 24) in the Polish city of Katowice

From left to right: MP Agnes Mulder (CDA), Pieter Terpstra (climate-policy coordinator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and MP Isabelle Diks (GroenLinks).

In the second week of December, a delegation of members of the Dutch House of Representatives will attend the UN Climate Summit (COP 24) in the Polish city of Katowice. Aspects to be addressed during the Summit will include the elaboration of rules for implementing the Paris Agreement. The participating countries will also discuss the necessity of increasing their current national efforts to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Delegation from the House of Representatives

The delegation consists of the following members of the House of Representatives:

  • Isabelle Diks (GroenLinks)
  • Agnes Mulder (CDA)
  • Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (VVD)
  • Rob Jetten (D66)
  • Tom van der Lee (GroenLinks)
  • Lammert van Raan (PvdD)

The delegation will attend the negotiations, in addition to engaging in various conversations and encounters with among others Minister Wiebes (Economic Affairs and Climate), State Secretary Van Veldhoven (Infrastructure and Water Management), European Commissioner Cañete (Climate Action), members of the European Parliament, Greenpeace and the Dutch youth representative. The programme will also include conversations with the delegations from the German Bundestag, the French Assemblée and the Finnish parliament.

Climate law

On Thursday, 6 December 2018, the House of Representatives held a debate on an initiative bill submitted by seven different members of the House of Representatives. The objective of this bill is to achieve systematic and irreversible reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions in the Netherlands, thereby contributing to the restriction of global warming throughout the world. This climate law is supported by nearly all parties in the House of Representatives. The Speaker, Khadija Arib, addressed the initiators of the bill at the start of the debate, expressing amazement at such a broadly supported initiative emerging from the House of Representatives: “It is so nice to see that seven parties of different political stripes have been able to come together and arrive at an initiative bill.”