EU gets a new climate commissioner, a McKinsey boy with all the right credentials

ER Editor: Shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic we very much hope.

Our thanks to Dutch colleague Michel van der Kemp for the heads-up.

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This week, following the announcement to ‘step down’ from the climate czar job a little while ago by former EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans (why on earth would he do this? Oh yeah, to run in the Dutch elections, where he isn’t at all popular, because that’s what you do at the end of a successful bureaucratic career), two candidates have been jockeying for position where neither originally received enough votes (a 2/3 majority is needed) – Dutchman and globalist Wopke Hoekstra and Slovak Maroš Šefčovič. Hoekstra finally got it. Šefčovič comes from Robert Fico‘s party. Fico is dangerously sympathetic to Russia for any of his candidates to be elected. You know, Putin. See what we published on this from this past week. 

Of note from euronews —

Hoekstra’s nomination for the climate role had sparked controversy among environmental groups, who claimed he lacked the credentials to lead the EU’s climate action policies. He voted down key environmental laws in the Dutch parliament and previously worked for oil and gas giant Shell.

But he surprised MEPs on Monday when he vowed more climate ambition and new measures to curb climate change, including a tax on aviation fuel.

The Dutchman has now been given extra time to provide further declarations on his past work for global consulting firm McKinsey.

If successful, Hoekstra would represent the bloc in key international climate negotiations, including the UN COP28 conference in Dubai.

Canfin acknowledged on Tuesday that there is a real risk there will be no climate commissioner representing the EU at COP28 if Hoekstra’s candidacy is delayed.

Hoekstra sounds like the perfect hypocritical tool – having worked for the right industries historically, who will do the right thing on cue, regardless of his personal convictions about climate policy. And he’s a former McKinsey boy, like Macron. A perfect example of the revolving door between corporations and government.

The EU is predicted to go down by big picture analysts. This can’t come too soon in our humble opinion.

The article below by Rene van Rijckevorsel is machine-translated. We apologize for awkwardness in the language.

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Politico.eu (severe MSM warning) also picked up the story yesterday. See —

Political theatrics dominate climate commissioner hearings

Of note, showing that the dominant forces in the EU don’t give the proverbial you-know-what about the electorate:

If the EU was to get a conservative climate commissioner, left-wing lawmakers were going to make it hurt — for a bit, at least.

On Wednesday, the EU’s new Green Deal chief Maroš Šefčovič and climate Commissioner-designate Wopke Hoekstra finally won the blessing of the European Parliament’s environment committee. A formal confirmation vote in plenary is scheduled for Thursday.

The committee’s approval came only after MEPs, unsatisfied with what they had heard in hours-long hearings earlier this week, forced Šefčovič and Hoekstra to answer additional questions in writing.

Green-minded MEPs in particular sought to put pressure on both candidates, demanding clarity on specific legislative files and diplomatic efforts — in particular setting the EU’s new climate goal for 2040.

But as much as the lawmakers insisted that this was all about substance, they ultimately waved the candidates through despite gaining little in the way of new policy commitments.

Instead, the prolonged hearings were all about sending a message: Don’t mess with the Green Deal.

With EU elections on the horizon, the past year has seen an increasing number of governments and MEPs — particularly on the right — pushing for weaker EU green legislation as the policies start to hit home for voters.

Left-leaning MEPs were aghast at the idea of an EPP man in charge of the bloc’s climate policy, given that Hoekstra’s political family has spent much of the year campaigning for weaker nature conservation rules and less green regulation.

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Wopke Hoekstra becomes European Commissioner: hearing was quite embarrassing

The rather implausible public interrogation of Wopke Hoekstra by the European Parliament has not done either party a favor

Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com

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