The European Green Deal Paradox – remarkably successful, but falling short?

Published date01 June 2023
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X231216860
AuthorM. van der Sluis
Date01 June 2023
The European Green Deal
Paradox remarkably
successful, but falling short?
M. van der Sluis*
As part of the political wheeling and dealing to secure her appointment as Commission President in
July 2019, Ursula von der Leyen turned greenand promised to launch a European Green Deal
(EGD).
1
In December 2019, she followed up on that promise. The EGD was set to become a
central pillar of the von der Leyen Commission. At that point, one could be forgiven for being skep-
tical: the Commission has a habit of announcing grand plans that slowly wither away. Four years
later, however, the EGD has an impressive track record. The legislative machine of the EU has
churned out a constant stream of new rules to combat climate change. These include a new EU
climate law, a new Emission Trading System, a carbon border adjustment mechanism, and
several sets of rules on renewable energy production and eff‌iciency.
And yet, it is doubtful that the EU will meet its targets for 2030 and 2050 (a 55% reduction of
emissions compared to 1990 and climate neutrality, respectively), as the EGD depends too much on
the Member States for its implementation, and political opposition to speeding up mitigation mea-
sures seems to be growing. This editorial examines the paradox of the European Green Deal: the
EGD can simultaneously be seen as a motor of integrationthat has made climate mitigation a
key pillar of European integration and yet unable to make the EU reach its climate goals.
The EGD in European integration
To understand the signif‌icance of the EGD and to evaluate its success, we may f‌irst look at the EGD
from the perspective of European integration, by examining its origins beyond von der Leyens ini-
tiative. The EGD can then be seen as a response to the growing awareness in recent years of the
perils of climate change. This awareness strengthened demands for legal and political action,
*
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Corresponding author:
M. van der Sluis, Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
E-mail: marijn.vandersluis@maastrichtuniversity.nl
1. European Commission, Opening Statement in the European Parliament Plenary Session by Ursula von der Leyen,
Candidate for President of the European Commission, 16 July 2019, SPEECH/19/4230.
Editorial
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2023, Vol. 30(3) 231235
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1023263X231216860
maastrichtjournal.sagepub.com

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